Let Live and Let Die
by OctoberThirtyFirst
Summary: After centuries as Master of Death, Harry must return to the mortal realms and investigate why this Light is of such fascination to his shinigami. He didn't expect life to take him by the heels, nor for himself to be embroiled in such a tangled game of mass murderer versus detective. In it all, where will he side and who will he let live and let die?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Return to Life**

Some days Harry really enjoyed being Master of Death. There were some great perks that came with the job... immortality, power overwhelming, and access to an infinite number of dimensions. But then there were days like this and Harry was reminded that with an infinite number of worlds came an infinite number of problems.

"How could you all be such blithering idiots?" Harry paced in front of his desk as his two subordinates covered in fear before him. "Tell me again how they all just stopped working in favour of watching the mortals and placing bets. Oh dear merlin save me or I'll lose it."

One of the cowering figures flinched and cleared its throat. It was not immediately obvious what gender the figure was, nor whether it was human or just humanoid.

"Master, if you could... please don't. Last time you _lost it_ we were held back for weeks doing damage control."

Harry took a breath and sagged back onto his chair. He steeped his fingers and massaged his forehead, tracing the lingering scar on his forehead.

"You're right, Peacock," Harry said with a reluctant sigh. "I won't banish those worthless beings to nonexistence and send more worthy reapers to that universe. It's tempting, though. So, very tempting."

Harry had learned to place less significance on his subjects' array of features and both of his advisors had learned to respond to Harry's not so flattering nicknames.

The space around them shimmered like warm air even though there was no such atmosphere to their current state of existence. Peacock, so named after his distinctive outgrowths on his forehead that resembled the tail feathers of the colourful Earth bird, carefully pressed against the far side of the wall to remove himself from the irate Death Master.

The other figure, so far still and silent, made a sound that Harry had come to interpret as a mix of frustrated resignation and opened two of its mouths to speak.

"Don't." Harry held up a hand and both mouths closed. "Just... let me stew for a minute, Panda. You can come back with your reason and advice and what have you, but right now, all I want is a cup of hot tea that I can throw in someone's mug. And a bloody large target for me to destroy."

The so dubbed Panda blinked its large, black rimmed eyes and rumbled out a thick agreement, again with the touch of resignation.

Harry slammed his hands on his desk and stood. He looked over the paperwork once more, flicking through page after page of red marked efficiency charts. "Ah damnit, how much work is this going to cost me? No, don't tell me. I don't even want to know. Is there anything that is going well today? At all?"

He glanced between his two closest advisers, neither of which seemed willing to speak out. Harry spun around, vanished the back wall of his office, conjured up a thick steel cube and then promptly collapsed it into a miniature black hole. He vanished it before anything more than a few sheets of draft paper were pulled into the gravitation well. No use. It wasn't as satisfying as he had hoped.

It was an odd bit of luck that his old mortal temper would place him so unfit for the role as grand master of paperwork and gambling employees. Well, he'd never had a problem with the latter problem, but there had always been _something_ that Peacock and Panda could bring to him to mess with his day.

Harry tried something larger. More flammable. The explosion sent a shockwave that blew his papers clear out of their organised stacks on his desk and the heat wave threatened to blow his glasses clear off his face. That was better.

Although it did leave him oddly reminiscent of the feel of the sun.

"That's better," Harry said. "Now where were we? Oh yes, go on. What you were saying about the miss-communication?"

He reformed his leather back chair and sat back down at his desk, overlooking his paper strewn office and his two poor advisers standing in the corner. To their credit, neither reacted to Harry's stress relieving strategies and it was with the smallest of hesitations that Panda slid forward.

"Not a miss-communication as such. More a non-communication," it rumbled. "There has been a disconnection between the headquarters and their dimension. We have traced the break back to several centuries in their timeline and unfortunately, none of the regulations Master put into place has been conveyed to them."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "A disconnection? You mean they've been operating on their own for all that time? And we've only just noticed this?"

"Yes."

"I assume we have regained contact?" Harry tapped his fingers on the table - there would be no other answer, or the next explosion threatened to be bigger than the office could contain.

"We have," Peacock chimed in. The three feathers on his head tucked themselves behind the genderless figure as it stepped forward to collect the fallen papers. "They seem to have formed their own social structure, with a king and a system of distributing power in the form of notebooks. Of course, their society's severely regressed, to the point where sheer ennui has led to several deaths."

"Deaths?" Harry sat up and took his feet off his desk. He accepted the stack of papers from Peacock and chucked them unceremoniously to the side. "You mean they're doing their jobs and ferrying mortals right? Otherwise, this is much more serious than I'd thought."

Their silence was all Harry needed. A stack of papers began to smoulder and Peacock hurriedly banished the flames and straightened the paperwork once again.

"It might be wise to seek an audience in person, Master," Panda rumbled. "You have a way with persuasion and I'm sure you'll be able to put them to the straight with a visit. The link is stable if you have a wish to..."

"Good idea. Best thing I've heard today. No, no time for paperwork, Peacock, that will just have to wait until I get back. Actually, better idea, you get started on filling them out. I'll go and send them some _persuasion_ like Panda said."

Harry swept out of the office, his cloak whipping behind him and Panda on his heels. He only had to focus on his destination - the circular hall where the portals to the multiverse lay - and they were there. In his domain, the Master of Death was master over all.

The place, if it could be called a place, was immense. It had to be, to fit all the compressed connections to the worlds under his control. Even minimised to a single speck of dust, an infinite amount necessitated an infinite space. At the centre of everything, several beings tended to the current opening, the one that Harry assumed lead to the problematic universe.

As one, they turned and bowed to their Master, not straightening until Harry strode past them to look into the portal. It was a desolate land, pure black rock, in places smooth as if formed from cooled magma. In the distance, thin spires reached into the ashen grey mist that hung above the land like a foreboding cloud. There was no sun. His creatures gathered in groups around depressions in the ground which gave off light and sound.

Harry stepped through.

They sensed his presence almost immediately as heads and eye stalks and twisted motion sensing vines turned his way. Harry, confident in his role as Master, stepped between his motionless vassals to the one who sat in a gilded throne, who wore a crown and overlooked the others as Harry overlooked them all.

The one who deigned itself king was quick to rise and quick to bow. "Master."

Harry nodded in acceptance. So not all was lost. Around them, murmurings started up as neighbours turned to each other and a cacophony of clicks and grunts and vocalisations filled the air.

"It has been too long," the king said. A thin, gnarly hand reached up to his crown and offered it to Harry. He refused, but the murmuring around them grew ever louder. Some even took steps to move closer.

Harry could see how the reapers here were deformed. Their bodies black, with teeth sharp as thorns and bodies that both resembled his own and were the opposite. While Harry didn't have the same command over the reality in this dimension as he had in his central headquarters, he knew he was in no danger.

"It has," Harry agreed. With a sharp turn, he addressed the reapers around them. "I'm here to return things back to normal. Keep you all happy and efficient and start you on doing your jobs properly."

A howl came from the distance and it was like a ripple had passed through the assembled reapers as one after another scrambled back to the depressions in the ground and hunkered over them. A sound like laughter and the exchange of coins. Harry frowned. It wasn't often he that he was ignored, not that it had ever been an issue. But it certainly wasn't welcome _now_ when he was trying to fix up the damn system.

The king behind Harry sighed. "As you can see, Master, the task is not an easy one. Perhaps when they were all merely bored with existence you could have come and renewed their purpose, but now they are all trapped in their fascination. It is become a drug, and the events in the mortal realm prove tempting even for me. I doubt any would return to their duties before everything plays out."

The king gestured, and Harry followed as they moved to one of the nearby depressions. It was a hole, reaching down through the barrier and into the mortal realm. Oddly enough, it showed one of Harry's reapers hovering behind a teenage boy. They were watching television.

Harry turned to the reaper king in disbelief. "What is _this_?" A quick glance told him all the reapers seemed equally fixated on this boy, that all the mirrors into the mortal realm depicted the same scene.

"It is… difficult to explain. One of our own, Ryuk, saw fit to entertain himself with… Well, perhaps it would be best if you saw for yourself, Master. I cannot do the situation justice."

Harry eyed the reaper in the image. Ryuk, as the king had called him, had the flair of a werewolf in the midst of transforming. Humanoid, yet with the same grey-black skin his reapers here seemed to have adopted. Hair rose in sharp spikes from the top of his head – and Ryuk was obviously male – and a pair of bulging yellow eyes peered over the boy's shoulders onto the television screen.

He seemed to be laughing.

"Perhaps I will," Harry said. "It's been a while since I've visited a mortal dimension." He shrugged, mouth suddenly tilting upwards in a smile. "Maybe it'll be fun."

Without even a backwards look, Harry stepped forward and sank into the image. It _would_ be fun, he decided. Peacock had kept him from enjoying his freedoms as Master of Death for too long with all the paperwork and the duties. He'd take a good look at this boy and he'd find out just how a mortal was keeping his subjects so enraptured.

Harry landed hard on the pavement below and cursed.

"Damn it. How could I have forgotten?"

His ankle throbbed from where it had twisted and a thousand little itches vied for attention. His clothes had changed to something more suitable to the era, a white cotton dress shirt and some slacks, but his Hallows were still with him, albeit in altered form.

A car beeped its horn at him and Harry blinked.

"Get off the road, you crazy fucker," the driver yelled as it swerved around him. Harry hurried off the road and took stock in a crowded store front.

There were people everywhere. The shimmering lights of advertisements and shop names made his eyes pound and his head spin with sensory overload. There was the chattering of humans, in groups and on their mobiles, the blasting of music from a speaker, the voice of hawkers and the steady, background thrum of the vehicles. Through it all, the scent of beef broth, the sharp clearness of air conditioning and the mix of both sweat and perfume. It was nearly too much.

Harry reached deep into his past and snapped his ill-used Occlumency shields back over his mind. They came with startlingly sluggishness but the lights and sounds were a little dimmer, a little easier to handle.

The world spun and it took a moment before he realised he hadn't breathed in a while. It's been a while since he'd been mortal. Harry lifted his head towards the sun and breathed in the first breath of real air that he'd had in centuries.

**AN: My first story on ff =] Hope you enjoyed the start. I seriously love some master of death action, and I'm a huge fan of DN as well so yeah. Hope I can do both series justice. **

**Edited: 18.1.2014**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Virtual Battle**

It took a while for Harry to get a handle on the feel of his chest moving up and down, to the pulse of his heart as it pumped. The dryness of his eyes made him realise he hadn't blinked so he did, and just spent a few seconds relishing in the fact that yes, his eyelids did word, and yes, they _needed_ to work.

It had been a while since he _needed_ anything that it came as a quite a shock. Harry looked down at his fingers, and while they were young and whole just as they were in his realm, he could see the tiny blood vessels that wound within and knew that actual blood flowed to his fingers, pumped from the very heart that sat in his chest.

"Oh Merlin," he whispered. "It's a wonder we don't all just drop dead all the time if our bodies are such fragile things."

But then he thought and realised that people _were_ dropping dead, and they'd dropped dead long before his realisation. The Avada Kedavra came to mind with an unsavoury tinge. Ever since becoming Master of Death, Harry had ground his teeth at the presence of the spell. It was like a failure on his part, inadvertently giving death's will into the hands of humans.

A few people gave him odd looks as they passed, but Harry paid no mind. He was used to being the centre of attention, whether he asked for it or not, and it was no different here.

Where _here _was, exactly, was a different matter entirely. It certainly wasn't the bedroom he'd seen from the reaper's world. He was in the heart of a city, and a busy one at that. Skyscrapers reached overhead, bearing bright digital screens and men and women in both business and casual wear swarmed the street.

Up ahead was a square, with a fountain centrepiece and a smattering of greenery. From the looks of things, it was around lunch time. Harry's stomach gave a growl and he looked down in surprise. So he'd have to attend to hunger and thirst and no doubt every other bodily motion that came with that. What a thing to get used to.

He was sure he could handle it though… there wasn't much Harry couldn't do, especially with his Hallows about. And besides, it wasn't like he'd never been human before.

With a shrug, Harry set off, one hand twirling around the elder wand in his pocket, another fiddling with the ring on a chain around his neck. It was hot, although Harry didn't know the season, and his cloak had taken the unfortunate shape of a scarf, a woollen one at that, and one that echoed the colours of his old Gryffindor scarf.

Harry could just about remember those times if he concentrated.

He had nearly walked past a food stall when his stomach grumbled once more. Why not, Harry thought, might as well start here. He approached the chef and looked down at the pictures.

"Give me one of these bowls," he said, pointing to one that looked particularly appetizing.

"You want some noodles, get back in line."

Harry blinked. Oh, right. The people he had pushed through grumbled as he made his way back along the queue. He'd forgotten about this particular aspect of society. There were no such things as _queues_ for the Master of Death. At least, not in his realm.

So, it was with tummy grumbling and increasing concern that Harry waited. What other things had he forgotten, he wondered. There had been a crystal ball, in his first world, which turned colourful to signify a lost memory. Harry couldn't quite remember what it was called, nor where exactly he'd seen it, but the thought of it flashing a rainbow in his hands brought a smile to his face.

Then, just as he was about to make his order, the couple in front of him pulled out a couple of notes and Harry smacked himself on the forehead. _Money._ That was the second thing he'd forgotten. Bloody hell, and now the chef fellow was looking at him in anticipation and Harry hadn't gotten any bloody money.

For a moment he floundered. Then, with the confidence borne of one too many press conferences and sessions with his supernatural advisors, he made his order.

"That bowl there, please."

And, as he asked, he twirled his wand in his pocket again and summoned up a few of the notes he'd seen the couple use. Then, a subtle confounding charm, just in case his handiwork wasn't up to scratch.

Harry handed over the money in exchange for his bowl and his mouth watered with the smell of beef and oil and parsley and… Ohh, if there was one thing he had missed most in his immortality, it was the food. The cook this time didn't quite have red hair, but Harry thought the noodles would be much better if they were cooked by a red-headed lady who gave out warm hugs and jumpers as often as she did delicious dinners.

The first bite was absolutely heavenly. It made the effort of using the two little sticks as utensils all worth it. A pair of girls on a nearby table giggled as Harry tried to pick the noodles up, and he couldn't help but feel the heat rise in his cheeks. Abashed, he set the sticks down and settled for slurping the soup.

All this was going quite well, with Harry enjoying his first bout of lunch in a couple of centuries and the warm glow of the sun until the screen in the centre of the square flickered and turned into a display of a man seated before a desk, looking rather like Harry himself, all primp and official.

Harry set his bowl down, almost done with the last of the broth as people around him quieted and turned to watch the screen.

"To the perpetrator of these serial murders, you have committed the most abominable act in history. I will personally catch the one behind in, _Kira_ at any cost."

The man, Lind. L. Tailor, as named by his plate, had a determined air about him. Harry didn't know who this Kira was but from the way people were reacting, he or she was fairly well known. The boy?

"Kira, I have a pretty good understanding of what you're trying to do and why you're doing it but what you're doing **is evil**."

That certainly made Harry sit up. He frowned. With the wisdom and experience of his first life, and then the uncountable years that followed as Master of Death, the concept of evil had changed and fractured and become something more than the opposite of _good_.

It wasn't a light thing, for Tailor to accuse this Kira as evil although Harry doubted things were ever so simple. One man's love, another man's hate. There were too many examples to count although Harry fears the origin of some of his wisdom had been lost to time and forgotten.

That crystal ball would be going crazy, he thought, and vowed never to get one.

A commotion on the screen. Tailor jerked and threw his head back. Some sort of ritual dance? But no, he cried out in pain and clutched at his chest, face ashen and eyes wide in horror.

Harry knew the sight of death as he would any of his advisors and knew exactly when the man was dead. It made his heart quiver - a reminder that Harry was mortal himself, at least for a short time. And with the taste of noodles and the afternoon sun, also came the inevitable end of it all.

All around him, people had erupted into a flurry of conversation. A few select groups had begun a chant, "Kira, Kira, Kira," while others shouted obscenities. Harry stood, mind whirling, _knowing_ that it was a part of his power that killed this Tailor.

Death manifested itself differently to each society. Some, it would come in the form of a green tinged spell, in others, it would the slice of a scythe. Harry hadn't asked about the particulars in this dimension, although it couldn't be that different from what he was used to. Harry couldn't figure out what the deal was with the _notebooks_, but that was fun, in a way. A mystery_._

Then, as the body of the late Lind. L. Tailor was removed, another voice was broadcasted to the square. It didn't sound human, and for a moment Harry was distracted trying to match it to any form of creature he'd encountered. It had the gravelly texture of a giant although it lacked the depth. Then there was the random changes in pitch that reminded Harry somewhat of the sound of mermish out of water. Like that golden egg. Harry wasn't sure what merpeople were doing in an egg so he tried to put it out of his mind.

"Unbelievable," it said. "I did this on the off chance that you would kill me. So, Kira, you can kill people without even being nearby."

Harry raised his eyebrows. Was Tailor still alive? A ghost? But those only existed in his first world and rarely on others. In any case, it didn't put the possibility out of the running.

"So it's true after all. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it. But this is the only way you could have killed them, wasn't it?"

So this world didn't have much in the way of supernaturals. If this speaker didn't know of a way to kill from a distance, it ruled out a whole heap of stuff. Sure, he could've just gone back to the reaper king and grilled the guy for information, but he'd never been the type for that. There was someone who was, Harry was sure, but couldn't quite reach the name.

"Kira, listen to me. The person you killed was actually a prisoner sentenced to be executed at this time today. Not me. He was a criminal imprisoned without any media attention, so naturally even you didn't know he existed."

What was this now? Death acting through the media? Harry had some nasty experiences with the paper but he wouldn't go so far as to say it was _deadly._ And then it came to him. A computer, that was what the voice reminded him of. A computerised voice.

Then he stopped short. So this place had media that killed and computers that had gained sentience. It went against all his expectations of technology mixing with magic but then Harry shrugged. He'd seen weirder things than computers who could talk. Who was he to judge?

"But I, L, am real. So why don't you kill me? Come on! Do it!"

Boy that was an earnest computer. Harry didn't know much about them but somehow he always figured them to be emotionless and still. Could you even _kill_ a computer, he wondered.

"Come on, kill me! What's wrong? Can't do it? Seems like you can't kill me after all."

Guess not.

"So there are people you can't kill. Let me tell you something in return. I said this was a worldwide broadcast, but it's really only being shown in the Kanto area of Japan. I was planning to do this at other prefectures but now that's unnecessary. I know now you're in the Kanto area. Kira, it's not far from the day you die."

Japan, huh? Harry looked around. It seemed to fit the vague memories he had from his first life. Kanto, Japan. So both he and this deadly media was in the same location. Now all he had to do was figure out how the bloody hell the boy with his reaper fit into all this.

"Kira, I will hunt you down and destroy you. I am **justice.**"

The broadcast cut off and satisfied with the amount he'd managed to deduce, Harry kicked back in his chair and shut his eyes. Blinking sure felt wonderful. So was closing your eyes. Maybe if he stayed like this a little longer…

A sudden vertigo, the world fell and Harry found himself sprawled on the floor. The dredges of his noodle soup soaked through his trouser leg and he jumped up at the nervous giggles of the girls. Cheeks flush again and mortified, Harry fled to a shadowy alley and, after a well-placed privacy charm, restored both his clothing and his dignity to full.

In the future, he'd always manage to find more stable positions to sleep in.

**AN: Hehe, the world must be so confusing for Harry right now. Also, I tried to make some stuff unexpected… he's going to have fun when he finds out the truth.**

**Edited: 18.1.2014**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Reaper's Boy**

"What was that reaper's name again? Ryuk or something?" Harry muttered to himself as he walked the streets in the mid-morning light.

His first day back as a mortal had been one full of experiences. They were old ones, sure, but there was a joy in rediscovering something you hadn't realised you'd forgotten. With a handy bit of magic, the night was spent in comfort at a well-to-do hotel right by where he had the noodles, although Harry found it disconcerting to have wasted a good eight hours unconscious to the world.

Now, he figured he should get on with tracking the reaper down. Ryuk had caused this mess somehow and it was time he answered for himself.

"Point me. Ryuk."

The elder wand spun on Harry's palm and settled, pointing nearly directly east. Hopefully it won't be too far away, Harry thought. He'd been walking, savouring the unique slowness of travelling by foot, but he knew that the novelty of it would fade soon enough. It was unfortunate that he didn't have a good broomstick with him. A good old Archstorm 2000 or a Genesis 5 would have been a blessing.

As it were, Harry shrugged, pocketed his wand and set off in the direction he was guided to. Amazingly, it didn't take long at all for him to end up in front of an average sort of house on an average sort of street. Harry had to check that it wasn't number four – it wasn't.

Now what? Harry assumed this was the house of that boy he had seen with Ryuk, but he didn't know anything else, not even why the reaper was here at all.

On a whim, Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak, shook it from its current form as his scarf and threw it over himself. Belatedly, he checked the street for any startled muggles wondering how he'd just disappeared like that. None? Good.

Then an eavesdropping spell on the front door. It tanged to impinge on some family's privacy like this but Harry really needed to get his reapers back on their jobs. If what he suspected was true, then people hadn't been getting a proper reincarnation for hundreds of years. This was going to be sheer hell afterwards.

Harry stuck his ear to the door. Alright, if there's nobody home, he'd go in and try to find this Ryuk who should still be-

Bang.

And then he was off balance with a sore head, a sense of de ja vu and Harry found himself on the floor once again. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his head where the door had hit him. A girl, no older than fourteen or fifteen stood in the doorway, hands over her mouth and eyes wide in shock.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Mister. Mother!" she called back into the house. "Are you alright? Here, let me help you up."

Harry accepted her hand, resigned to the fact that his cover was blown. His cloak, returned to the shape of the scarf, remained in place over his shoulders and he could feel the blood pounding through his head. Oh dear Merlin this was awful. With one hand on his head and the other grasped by the girl, he shuffled into the house to collapse onto a dining room chair.

"Sayu? What's wrong?" A middle aged woman looked down from the top of the staircase and gasped as she saw Harry. "Who's this? Sayu?"

The girl shifted on the spot, anxious and embarrassed. "Uhh I don't know. He was outside when I opened the door and I think I might have accidentally knocked him over because he was on the ground and clutching at his head."

The woman came down and took a good look at Harry. He tried to smile and ease her worried frown but all that was running through his head was his deplorable knowledge of headache spells.

"Oh dear, I apologise for my daughter. I think I might have an ice pack in the fridge, just wait one second and… ah here it is. How's that?"

She pressed something wonderfully cool on Harry head and a wave of numbness washed over him.

"Sayu, you can probably head off to your get together," she said to the girl. Sayu. "Just be careful next time, alright? We only have one of those ice packs in the house and we can't be having so many injured… who did you say you were?"

Harry opened his mouth. Then his shifted his hold on the ice pack. Then he blinked.

"I'm here to speak to your… son." Harry was pretty proud it didn't come out as a question. Still, he held his breath and hoped that he'd gotten it right. Her expression cleared and she nodded, and Harry celebrated a little underneath his Occlumency shield.

"Aha, you from Light's school? I'll call him down."

Light? Was that what the boy was called? Harry was vaguely aware of a flustered apology from Sayu before she ran out the door. Her mother went back up stairs. Now might be a good opportunity.

"Episkey," he muttered, wand pointed in the vague direction of his head. The pounding eased and Harry sighed with relief. He put the ice pack down, careful not to get the water on the carpeted floor.

And there was the boy, tall, blond, with an air about him that reminded Harry of an old school mate, one who had gotten in his way far too many times before he got better. Behind him, the reaper Ryuk, staring in what Harry thought was shock and just a little bit of terror.

"Hello," the Light said, a welcoming smile on his face. Ryuk started to laugh, a deep, hollow sound that echoed through the room, a sound that had Harry quirking up a smile. Ryuk only laughed harder. The boy was oblivious to the reaper behind his back.

"Hello," Harry said back, eyes fixed on the boy's. It wouldn't do to appear like a weirdo and look at the reaper all the time.

There was an awkward moment of silence as the boy stood on the staircase and Harry sat below. It was only Ryuk's laughter, oddly contagious, that filled the room. Harry stood, deciding that he'd let the boy in to Ryuk's presence and the pull the reaper back to his proper realm. Then, perhaps they could get going on sorting out all the lost souls.

Harry almost groaned at the thought of the amount of paperwork generated by this single universe.

"Mother said you came from my school. Is that what you told her?" The boy made his way down, step by step. Ryuk, eyes fixed on Harry, did the same. Just _why_ was he following the boy?

Harry shook his head. "I didn't say anything. She left before I could." Well, a half-truth, there.

"That's what I thought." Light smiled again, and it struck Harry how much his name suited him. Light hair, an open face, an easy smile. He would have made a better prefect than that other blond boy from Harry's past. "Although I was just about to buy some food. We can talk on the way if you want."

Awfully trusting, this Light. Harry knew better than to follow strangers out of the house when he was a child, and he'd even had _magic._ Was his reaper protecting the boy? From the sound of that laughter, no, but Harry shrugged and followed Light out again.

Ryuk had not _stopped_ laughing, and while Light was fortunate enough not to hear it, it was beginning to become a little _too_ contagious for Harry. Odd. He'd never been affected this way by Panda or Peacock before, although he'd rarely had an opportunity to hear them laugh with such little restraint.

As they walked, Harry noticed how _tense_ Light was. It wasn't much – the hands in the pockets, slightly stiffer shoulders than normal, the gaze focused straight ahead as if the boy was deep in thought or in a match against a renowned Gobstones player.

Harry looked around. This was as good a place as any other. As small neighbourhood, they were pretty much isolated. Unlike the crowded inner city, it was almost too quiet. Harry remembered a vague memory, a chastisement of spreading secrets in silence when he should have gone with noise.

"So… Light."

Harry stopped, unsure of how exactly to break it to the boy. He'd never been good at welcoming the new muggleborn first years into the wizarding world, and this was nearly the same. He couldn't really tell him say there was a giant floating death reaper following him around but that it was alright since Harry was the Master of Death… could he?

"I believe you have me at a disadvantage," Light said. "You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Oh," Harry said, flustered. He'd let his fame get to his head again. He'd have to remember to introduce himself properly from now on, or he'll end up being more suspicious than he probably already was. "Sorry, I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

He waited for the reaction, for eyes to flicker up to his scar, all the while knowing that Light realistically had no way of him. However, there was something. A thinning of the eyes, a slight quirk of the mouth in a smile that was less friendly than what the boy had worn before.

Light pulled out a scrap of paper, eyeing Harry with an unusually intent stare.

Then Ryuk spoke up for the first time with a voice that matched his laughter. "You're still being followed."

A look of shock, then Light stuck the page back in his pocket. Did the boy forget to write down his shopping list beforehand? Harry knew he sometimes was overconfident in his ability to remember the grocery list. Luna hadn't been much help either. A fond smile drifted up at the thought of his wife and his hand went up to play with the ring around his throat.

He was due for a talk with the old crowd, Harry thought. His memories would come back when he did, and all this mortal business made him nostalgic for the old times.

Although what had the reaper meant with that? Harry was followed? By _what_? All that Harry could think of right now was the mountain of paperwork waiting for him and the thought of those piles of documents gaining consciousness like that L computer and coming after him with demands of being filled out made the Master of Death shiver with dread.

"I'm quite thirsty, actually. Would you like a coffee?"

Harry blinked at such an out of the blue question. "I'm more of a tea person actually," he said.

Light waved him away. "That's fine." A belated smile, as if it was a hind thought. The walked once more and the buildings became taller and more elaborate. Back into the city? But Harry had just… oh whatever.

As Light walked, he scribbled on that scrap of paper, occasionally looking up to keep his footing. Harry was tempted to look over the boy's shoulder, wondering how he could focus so much on a shopping list. But Ryuk was in the way, looking and reading and laughing his laugh. Their eyes met of a second and Ryuk winked.

Now what had _that_ meant? Harry thought he was more than a little confused but for now, he was willing to let the boy have his coffee. Maybe if they both had something to drink, the story would come out easier. Ah, yes, Harry decided. As with all good stories, one should start at the beginning. The tale of three brothers will do just fine. If only he could remember how it went.

Light lead them into a main street and almost immediately Harry had to strengthen his Occlumency as they plunged into the crowds. Back to the bustle, was it? Light navigated well, finding natural openings and carved a path that Harry appreciated.

The café was large enough Harry thought it would be more apt to call it a restaurant. He raised an eyebrow when he saw that the seats were mostly occupied by couples. Light pulled out a chair, though, so Harry joined him at the table. The cloth was a horrid shade of pink – it didn't match Ryuk's skin tone at all. In fact, the reaper stood out in the café like a… reaper in a café.

They ordered their tea and coffee and were soon sipping at the piping hot drinks. What Harry wouldn't have given for a nice cool butterbeer right then. Well, lots of things, but that wasn't the point.

A few minutes later, a man in a broad brimmed hat and trench coat settled down near them. Harry felt for the guy, he really did. A trench coat in this weather? Light got up, claiming a full bladder and glanced at his watch. Ryuk when with him. Harry could hear the reaper's laughter reach a fever peak and couldn't resist letting out a little chuckle of his own.

**AN: I really wanted to go into Light's pov today but… oh it's definitely coming next chapter. Hope Light and Ryuk are in character so far, we'll see much more of what's going on in their heads next time.**

**Edited: 18.1.2014**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The New Player**

"If _he_'s not the one following me, who is he? And why didn't you tell me this sooner, Ryuk?"

Ryuk only laughed. Light knew he'd get no answers from the shinigami and turned instead to watch Harry sip his tea from the reflection of his phone. The counter counted down until Light held his breath in anticipation.

39. 40.

Nothing. Harry sipped at the tea and didn't so much as twitch.

"It been fourty seconds. Why isn't he getting up?"

Light scowled and paced in the alleyway, heartbeat frantic – faster even than when he'd seen the stranger in his kitchen and knew he had to kill him. Just another block moved from his path to wiping the scum off the face of the Earth and creating his utopia.

Light pulled out the sheet from the Death Note and read over his instructions.

_Harry Potter dies of an accident after writing down his motives and sealing them in an envelope which he places underneath the rock by the second tree of Tongling park. Steps out onto the road and his site of death at 1.15pm._

"A fake name?" Light clenched his fists and crumpled the page into a ball. He should have expected it. Next time he'll have to ask for an ID, but how to do that without raising suspicion?

"Remember," Ryuk said, looming over his shoulder. "We can make the deal at any time. All you need to do is request."

The shinigami's grin stretched full across his face and with Ryuk's spread of spiky hair he appeared quite like the devil. Light wasn't nearly fool enough to deal with the devil.

"No. I've said already that the new world will need me as its God. I will not trade away my time for this Potter."

Ryuk let out a belt of laughter which sent Light searching back through his words. Which was it? There was a clue in here somewhere. Was it _Potter_? Did Harry lie about his other name?

"Damnit, Harry Potter, or whoever you are," Light muttered. "What were you doing in my house?"

It was bad enough his mother and Sayu had seen the man… it would prove problematic if an investigation was held over his death but Light had been confident he'd be able to make it seem like an accident.

Think through this logically. He isn't with the police – his father had no records of a man fitting Harry's appearance, but it was obvious Harry knew _something_. For a second back at the house Light thought he saw Harry react to Ryuk's laughter.

But that was impossible. He'd taken the utmost of care with his Death Note and every safe guard had been in place and been untouched. It would be too farfetched to believe that man would walk into his house with the ability to see Ryuk but not react beyond twitching a smile.

Did L send him? Light suspected his follower to be an agent sent by L and assumed that Harry was the one, but Ryuk's comment would have him believe otherwise. The detective was stepping up the pace if he was going behind the Japanese police force and Light would have allowed himself to feel satisfied if it weren't for the danger that the wildcard, Harry, posed.

The man didn't have the right feel for an agent. Light had caught him staring at everyday objects like he had never seen them before – electricity lines, a remote control car, a mailbox. Harry seemed like he was a few marbles from being completely there, although Light couldn't say if that, too, was a ruse.

It was too early in the game for Light to let such a potential disaster walk away but now it seemed he had failed his first attempt. No, he hadn't failed. He had learned from this and perhaps the situation could yet be salvaged.

He had to go back there. Whatever Harry Potter was doing here, Light needed to get to the bottom of it. So far, he shouldn't have given anything away – to Harry or his as yet undiscovered follower. The last few days he'd been a model student, and now, what was odd about a coffee stop before he finished grocery shopping? If he was a bit overly trusting, that couldn't be a fault. It certainly didn't make him _Kira_.

Harry was smiling when he returned and Light acted like nothing had happened. His coffee was cold, but he nursed it as if it was fresh.

"Good, you're back. Light, I've been meaning to ask… Have you ever heard the tale of three brothers?"

Three brothers? For a wild moment Light thought Harry was going to confess his relation, that he was a long lost brother com to join the family despite his obviously foreign appearance. What fancy, Light thought in disgust.

The Harry shook his head and sighed. "Of course you wouldn't. It's not a story someone like _you_ would be familiar with. In any case, it goes like this. I hope you don't mind humouring an old- uhh, don't mind humouring me."

What was that? What had he cut off? _An old man? _And had there been a tinge of superiority? To think that anyone would be superior to Light. He'd play along for now, but this _story_ is not something Light had foreseen.

"Ohhh this should be good," Ryuk said.

Light watched Harry carefully for any sign he'd heard, but the man did not react at all.

"So. Long ago, and stay with me here, Death met three brothers."

Light felt a shiver travel down his spine. Death. Light wasn't a stranger to death. It was necessary to cleanse the trash, and Light was willing to dished as much out as was necessary but it was as if Harry spoke of a different thing entirely.

"They were from a family called the Peverells, and each managed to best Death in their own way and Death rewarded each with a gift. The first, a ring that would call the dead back to the living; the second, a cloak to make the wearer invisible; and the third, a wand that would be unbested in battle. Together they made the Deathly Hallows and the one who possess all three makes the Master of Death."

Light struggled to keep his face neutral. What was this nonsense now? A children's story? Light didn't know how to respond. Should he be entertained? Was there hidden meaning in the story? His eyes hardened. Was it a code?

As if sensing his disbelief, Ryuk floated straight up out of the table between Light and Harry, wicked grin still in place. "Come, Light. You would believe in shinigami and Death Notes but you falter at the thought of a _Master?_"

Harry sucked in a hard breath and Light narrowed his eyes at the man. Ryuk spun lazily around so he too faced Harry who stared at them both in a kind of shocked gaze. His eyes moved from Ryuk to Light, then back to Ryuk again before settling on an annoyed expression.

"Great," the man muttered. "I've been played for a fool haven't I?"

It was like Light's mind was running several seconds slower than normal. It took him a blink before he caught up with the sheer implausibility of what was being revealed. Ryuk's laughter rang through his head, the memory of it clashing with the present.

He clenched the table and fought down a burst of laughter. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. Light dragged in a deep breath and made a concerted effort of pulling himself together.

Harry put his head in his hands and said something that sounded like, "Well, that's one gnome out of the garden." Light didn't know whether or not to believe his ears anymore.

He realised the hand holding the coffee was shaking and put the cup down before it could spill.

"Look to your left, Light," Ryuk said with a grin.

Unthinkingly, Light did just as the shinigami asked and stared right into the interested eyes of a man in a trench coat. They both broke the gaze at the same time and Light knew at once that _this_ was the one who had been following him.

And now L would know.

What was L going to know? Too much. Light could afford to blunder again with this one, especially if that story about the _Master of Death_ was true. Especially if he was sitting across the table from Light.

It couldn't be. Could it?

"Well, now that you know I know, and I know you know… well, how about we get down to business. Ryuk, tell me-"

"Shut up. Not here," Light hissed and cut Harry off.

Harry glowered and for the first time since meeting the man, Light noticed the deep, imposing glow in the emerald of his eyes. Light sat back, intimidated.

"There are listeners around us," Light stressed.

"And they won't hear anything."

Light stared back, doubtful. He didn't dare look back at the man in the trench coat but he could hear everyone else just fine and was sure that every word was travelling back to snake into L's ears.

Harry rubbed his temples. "Look, just trust me, alright? No one's going to hear us."

Trust? _Trust?_ How could Light trust this man? Did he know what he was asking for? Especially of Light, especially now. Harry must have taken Light's silence as assent.

"Ryuk," he said again. "You need to stop doing whatever it is that's keeping the others caught up. I know it's been a while but I'm here now and Merlin forbid we delay this any further. Do you _know_ how many souls we've screw up? How much of a backlog we're going to have?"

Ryuk for once, lost his grin and scratched at the back of his head in an extremely human gesture of embarrassment.

"Well, ehh, Master. I don't know if I can do that. And I don't know if the others would be happy if they found out their bets wouldn't be won or lost."

It was true. Light couldn't stop his sharp inhale. Hearing Ryuk confirm his suspicions… This changed things. He'd have to change his plans, take Harry, the apparent _Master of Death_, into account, and – Oh Kami what was someone like him doing here? Wasn't a shinigami enough?

"Right. Right, the king had something like that. Bloody hell. Alright, what is it? What's gotten you damned reapers in such a mood? Tell me."

Light was keenly aware that Harry hadn't garnered any attention as he talked into the air. People continued with their conversations and Light found himself slowly giving in to Harry's words. Did he have some sort of supernatural selective noise dampening ability? The shinigami had their eyes, that much Light knew, and were invincible until their years ran out. Their Master would no doubt be the same.

Light snorted and felt the crumpled up piece of the Death Note still in his pocket. He'd tried to kill the Master of Death.

Ryuk turned to Light, who was instantly suspicious of the attention. The shinigami looked at him knowingly, malicious amusement in every line of his face. "Why don't you tell him, Light? I'm only here for the ride, after all."

Then, with increasing apprehension, Light looked up into the judging stare of the Master of Death. A notebook that could kill, shinigami, the country's police, the undefeated L, the daunting task of removing crime from the face of the Earth. All of that he could handle, but Light knew this _being_ here was something else.

His greatest weapon useless, Ryuk subversive and without a way out, Light knew he couldn't fight Death. A glimmer of hope returned as he saw the path. He could not destroy this wildcard but he could recruit Harry to his cause. If there was one thing Light was confident in, it was his ability to take advantage of opportunities. That's right. A shift in perspective was all that as needed.

He'd become the true Master, the God of the new world, and he do it with Death reigning below his feet.

* * *

Later, at an unnamed hotel, L balanced a slice of blueberry cheesecake on a stack of six marshmallows. His trademark gothic letter glowed on the computer screen and cast his face into a white washed mask.

He pulled up the images he received from the prison. _L, do you know Gods of death love apples?_

"L," Watari's voice came from a shadowed corner. "There is a message from Ray Penber. It looks… intriguing."

"Light Yagami."

"Yes."

"Percentage chance that Light Yagami is Kira has increased to seven point five."

"Even without seeing the report?"

"Yes. If there is incriminating evidence, the chance increases to nine point two."

L plucked a glazed blueberry off the dessert stack with his fingers and set it aside. He balanced another blueberry on the first, lost patience with the third and ate it. Then the cheesecake toppled and fell. L set the plate aside and poked the cake on the ground. He licked his finger. Delicious.

"Watari?"

"Yes, L?"

"I need another piece of cheesecake."

A sigh. "Very good."

L picked up a marshmallow, tore it in two and stared at the sticky centre for a moment before turning back to his screen. Watari's soft footsteps echoed out of the room and there was soon another plate with a perfect slice of cheesecake. Good. L would need the energy tonight.

The missive from Raye Penber scrolled up his page and L smiled. It won't be long now.

* * *

**AN: Huh. Sorta turned out alright. Didn't quite expect the truth to come out all at once but ehh. Hope Light was alright in this. The plot's going to derail a little more from now on with Harry in the picture. If I leave any glaring plot holes, point them out, yeah?**

**Edited: 18.1.2014**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Deathly Compromise**

"So this is what you've been using to kill people?"

Harry shook the Death Note in his hands and flipped through its pages, scanning all the names the boy had written. It bore an uncanny resemblance to another notebook Harry remembered from his youth, which was puzzling since he never figured himself for the journaling type. Perhaps if he was, he'd be able to remember things a bit better.

Light sat absolutely still at his desk where the drawer contraption was propped up with a pen cartridge. His hands were open in a way that Harry thought was forcibly relaxed and the boy's face was calm as the crystal clear surface of a well maintained Occlumency shield.

"You've been busy. One person taking out all the criminals of the world?" Harry sighed. "Look, Light, it's not like I don't understand. I'd be a hypocrite if I said I never wondered what my power could do for the good of the world, so I'm not going to lecture you, alright? Besides, lectures never really did a proper job of changing minds."

Light didn't react - it was like the boy was a natural Occlumens. Harry just barely restrained himself from taking a peek into Light's mind. Sure, he might be up for eviscerating the evil and banished death eater heads from their shoulders but the unique code of ethics imparted to him from his headmaster had never quite faded. Harry was extremely conscious of the responsibly that came with his power.

So, with no visible relief or surprise from his audience of one, Harry continued. "And it's never really been up to me to decide what the humans can and cannot do to themselves. If you were taking up wan- guns or bombs or what not I wouldn't be here at all. But thing is, that there's _my_ power you're using, and Death's not meant to be handled by human hands."

Harry cast an admonishing glance at Ryuk, who suitably cowered in the corner. He hadn't banished the reaper to his proper realm for one reason and one reason only.

He couldn't. Not with the rules they had created for themselves, not with the Death Note in Light's possession. That didn't mean Harry couldn't punish Ryuk on the mortal realm, however.

"Master, please understand. The shinigami realm had been stagnating. The same thing day after day, nothing to do but-"

Harry could have blown something up. It was only the reminder that damage done to the mortal realm _stayed _after his fit that stayed his hand. He stood and Light jerked on his chair. So the boy _was_ affected, but the human wasn't what he was concerned about right now.

"Nothing to do?" Harry hissed. "Nothing. To. Do. You think there's nothing to do? No, don't answer that. In fact, no one do anything before I return. No moving, no breathing, no killing, no nothing. I'm going to have a word with the reapers up there if they all think they have _nothing_ to do."

It was heady – the feeling of rage in a human body. It was like his flesh was rippling, his skin too weak to hold in the unrestrained emotion. Ryuk had almost sunken into the ground and his two yellow eyes was tilted downwards at the chastisement. Light had the audacity to smirk at his reaper's plight.

"Oh, don't you worry, boy. When I'm back you'll get yours as well. Be sure to understand that your acquisition of my power is temporary only. A few names in a notebook does _not _made you anything more than a boy fooling with powers he knows nothing of."

Harry twisted and willed himself back into the reaper realm. The transition was near instantaneous and he was back in the world of molten rock and among his twisted reapers, immortal once more. They climbed up and crowded around him.

"Nothing to do?" Harry said before any could speak. "Is it true that you think there's nothing for you to be doing?"

Harry ignited the gas above him and the explosion billowed out as a halo and knocked the closest reapers flat on their backs. In the midst of the frustration, Harry realised that anger was so much more satisfying when he had a heart that could beat and pound blood through his temples. Here, his hands weren't even shaking.

As one by one they clambered back up, the king with his crown of bone pushed through the crowd and dipped its head in reverence before Harry.

"It has been an age, Master. As you know, times deals not well with creatures such as us and the knowledge of our tasks have escaped even me. Believe me when I say it is not indolence or apathy staying our progress, but the ignorance of children."

_Children?_ Harry took a better look at the reapers. Perhaps the king had a point. It wasn't their fault they'd dropped out of contact and they didn't deserve Harry's ire. But he was still angry. Angry that such a large error had caused so much chaos.

He held up a hand. "No need to say more. As it is, the work ahead will be plenty to occupy yourselves with and there is be no more complaining of idleness. Panda, Peacock."

Harry's two advisors appeared beside him. Apparently it had been a bad time for Panda who had no less than a dozen delicate signal transmitting orbs in his arms. They fell and shattered to pieces and Harry covered his face with his hand.

"Well. I thought Master had promised to call before signalling us," Peacock said on behalf of his partner.

"Yes, yes, you're right. But this is urgent."

"They were broken anyway." Panda brushed its limbs on each other and banished the shards with a wave.

Harry's advisors had a greater range of power than the other reapers and could accomplish such small housekeeping tasks without much effort. As he learned early on, the business of Death called for efficiency, and this was just another way to ensure that the passage of souls from one life to another was well regulated.

Something that was _not_ happening in this dimension.

"Panda, Peacock. You two are going to teach the reapers of this world how to properly conduct their work. Give them the whole package and get a few experienced fellas from the other worlds as guides. I want this place up and running like it should have been and not a second more and Merlin knows I should have done this when I first got here."

They nodded, or rather, Peacock's outgrowths bobbed in assent and Panda shifted its weight back and forth, but the meaning was the same. Harry turned next to the reaper king of this dimension, but a reaper threw himself between them with a sound like dry leaves on scale.

"We do not accept," it said with a barely audible drone.

"Be still," ordered the king. Harry gave the crowned reaper an approving glance but gestured for silence.

"And why do you refuse?" Harry asked. Unease prickled his mind – it wasn't often a reaper would deny his command. His position as Master gave his word precedence over nearly every aspect of his subjects and it was only in extenuating circumstances that one could _refuse_.

Another reaper spoke out. "Let the battle finish at least. We are all waiting for the outcome."

"Battle? You mean the boy, Light? I don't see what that has to do with your job." Even as Harry spoke, he could see the reapers agitate. He raised his voice and his will made it so it was amplified as if he had cast Sonorous. "Is this fascination shared by all of you gathered here?"

A murmured consent.

"I am not a cruel Master. If your desire is to witness the conclusion to Light than I shall not dismiss it. However, a compromise must be made." Harry left no room for discussion. "You _will_ study under my appointed advisors and you _will_ take their lessons to heart. Do as you wish outside the allocated times and I will be satisfied."

There was silence now, and the lone reaper who had broken the ranks moved back to join the crowd. They were listening and they needed only a little more of a push.

"Now. Let me hear your agreement."

The realm erupted into cheer. Under the grey mist of the sky, the noise was rather muted but Harry turned back to his advisors and the reaper king with a smug smile.

"You need not have compromised," the king said.

"No," Harry agreed, "but it's good for morale. And all good businesses run off of a certain amount of morale. Most things in the world do."

He could see the king was not entirely satisfied, but Harry couldn't care less. In truth, the compromise was nothing. He got what he wanted and worst come to worst, the reapers would only be occupied for a few decades more. Humans didn't live very long after all.

However, Harry knew he could hurry the process along just as easily as if he waited. He'd keep true to his word – Light's hold over Death would be temporary, but perhaps that could be lengthened. After all, the boy without his little toy would be useless to his subjects… and if Harry was true to himself, he had to admit that life as a mortal was more interesting than he recalled.

Ryuk, however disrespectful of the rules, sure had the right idea when it came to having fun.

"Right. Panda, Peacock, I'll leave things up to you."

"Master? And where are you going?"

Harry looked over his shoulder and winked. "I'm going on a holiday. It's about time I had one, don't you think?"

With a twist, he was gone. The skin of mortality settled on his shoulders and once more, a heart thumped steady in his chest. Harry breathed deep and for a moment, ignoring the presence of the ruthlessly ambitious boy and his wayward reaper, closed his eyes and filled his lungs with the air of the evening.

A vacation he had said. A vacation into mortality. Harry opened his eyes and let himself be alive.

"Well, boys, there's been a change in plans. I'm going on holiday." Harry's grin was wicked and sharp. "In fact, I think I'll start right now. So, Light. Tell me again of what you've been up to these last weeks. Come on, entertain me."

In the corner Ryuk cackled and Harry joined in without hesitation. He could almost feel, almost _hear_ the reapers in the other realm laughing along with them but Harry didn't miss Light's thin, satisfied smile either.

What had Ryuk called himself? Ah, _shinigami_, that's right. The boy would make a great shinigami.

* * *

"The tale of three brothers?" Watari leaned over L's shoulder and scanned the missive from Penber. "Does that sound familiar to you?"

L tapped his lips with his fingers, hunched over in his usual position and pouted.

"I can do a preliminary search of the world's folklore," he offered. While L was brilliant at what he does, the prize investigator could drift off into silence for hours at a time, running theories and calculations through his head. Watari know how little L liked to ask for help as well, and considered offering it as part of his job.

"Yes, good," L said absentmindedly. "Do you know, Watari, what the chances are of Kira talking about death gods and Light being told a story about these… deadly hallows? Within thirteen hours of each other, in fact."

"You have revised your percentages, I assume?"

"Not excessively, but now my attention is overwhelmingly on Light Yagami. Progress on the background check for the man he was with? Have you found anything?"

"No. The photos Penber sent us don't match any in our collection. Not overly unusual, especially if he is a foreigner, but…"

"We have a very comprehensive digital library, yes. Attempt to contact the M16 requesting access to their databases. The man's jaw and temporal bone structure suggests his origins from the British Isles."

Watari nodded, and after a moment of silence, left L to his musing and wondered at the new development. It was quite odd, Watari decided. They had no records of the unassuming black haired man having contact with Light before, and Yagami's son was not known for attending coffee dates with strangers.

His steps slowed as another thought came to mind, one that L may have overlooked with his… unique world view. The man hadn't been much older than Light himself, after all, and Pa-chan café is well frequented by the romantically inclined. While Light already had a female love interest, it was not impossible…

* * *

**AN: Might've spent a bit too much time in the shinigami realm… felt it was slightly repetitive but Harry just wanted to do what he wanted to do. Well, now he shouldn't have any excuses to mess around. **

**Edited: 18.1.2014**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Words of the Moon**

"Good morning Harry, did you sleep alright?" Mrs Yagami piled a mountain of pancakes in front of Harry. They smelled heavenly. "I'm sorry I didn't realise you were one of his friends… that boy doesn't talk much of his social life."

"Mother," Light whined. "Not in front of Harry. And it's not that I don't want to talk, but usually I need to study after dinner."

Light's father chuckled and Harry sensed it was a common vein of discussion. "That's my boy."

Beside them, Sayu pouted and crossed her arms.

"And Sayu too," Mr Yagami added. "I heard you've improved in your calculus class?"

Watching the family, Harry quietly tucked into his breakfast and tried to force away the feeling of being left out. It was irrational, he knew, but the warmth and the unity of this unit was getting to him in the same way that the Weasleys did.

Harry paused mid-chew. That's right, they were called the Weasleys. And they had red hair and the family only had one daughter. How come it was only coming to him now? They'd had such good times together. There as the time when… when…

"Harry?"

Suddenly he had no appetite. Harry set his fork down and stood. "Excuse me."

He felt hollow. The merest taste of the times gone by, and the inability to reach further into the past was frustrating beyond measure. How could he remember the Weasleys but not anything else about them? Harry's hand went to the resurrection ring and felt the chiselled edges of the gem and the single crack that went through the centre.

That, too, held meaning. If only he knew what it was.

"I need some fresh air," he said and made for the door.

"I'll come with. I'm done with breakfast too. Thanks for the food mum."

Let Light and Ryuk come. It would make no difference. They were out the door and into streets that were becoming familiar. How could he remember the layout of the neighbourhood but not the times he had with his red-headed family? Who had he been closest to? Ron? Ronald? It sounded familiar but he couldn't be sure.

It seemed the only name he had any certainty was that of his wife's and Harry never realised how precious the knowledge was.

"Just so you know, our follower is still behind us. Don't do anything suspicious."

Where would be a good spot… there was an alley just to the side, but Harry didn't much like the idea of talking to Luna by a couple of garbage cans. She'd appreciate the trees, perhaps. A park?

"Where is a nice park around here?" Harry asked.

Light didn't respond right away but his gaze was overly cautious as he looked at Harry. Ryuk chuckled ominously behind him and Harry wondered what it was they were both thinking of.

"The nearest would be Tongling park, about ten minutes away. It's close to where we had coffee yesterday." The boy looked oddly intense as he spoke. Did the park have some particular significance to him?

Harry shook his head. "That's fine. It _does_ have trees doesn't it?"

Light paused. "What exactly are you thinking of doing there?" he asked.

"Does it matter? Show the place to me."

Light was silent for the rest of the walk and it was only when they reached the shade of a particularly heavy boughed oak. Harry thought Luna would've like something a little more extraordinary than a simple oak but there was something to be said about the sturdiness and the longevity of the tree.

He sat on a boulder by the base and undid the clasp of the chain that held the ring. He could feel the power underneath the metal, could almost see Luna's silver hair in the wind. All he had to do was say her name and he'd be able to see

Light stood off to the side, unobtrusive but Harry didn't want him here. His wand came out in a whisper and Harry cast a muggle repelling charm on the area, followed by a combined notice-me-not and a confounding charm on the edges for good measure.

Confused, Light looked around, mumbled something to Ryuk who laughed, and started in the direction of his house. Harry watched as the boy pulled out his phone and made a call but he was far enough that he couldn't catch the details of the conversation.

It wasn't important. Preparations complete, Harry turned the ring one. Twice. Thrice.

"Luna Potter."

And she was here. Hair as silver as he imagined, caught by the light of the sun and thrown into a halo about her head. Eyes the same faint blue as they always had been, only now they reflected the brown of the trees and the rich grain of the earth. She floated, and Harry stood to meet her.

"Harry," she said and the sound came as if from a distant place. "I've missed you. You never chase the Snidgets away anymore and they come every day and I can hardly see through the crowd."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, "I've been busy." It sounded like a lousy excuse, even for him. "I've missed you too."

Their fingers met and Harry's memories surged to the forefront of his mind. Everything about Luna, and everything about Luna and Harry. He could see it all so clearly now.

"I remember now… to think this happened every time we touch. It's like I'm a different person with you and without you, Luna."

"Don't be silly, Harry. Of course it is. I am the one who chases away your Snidgets after all and I'm the one who lets you see."

Harry laughed – however Luna might twist the truth into a fantasy, her words always shed light on reality in the end. Not many had seen this, and Harry knew he counted himself among the lucky ones who did.

They talked, and it was the talk borne of years of great friendship and love. If Dumbledore – that's right, that's what his name was – was right about one thing, it was that love was the greatest force of all. Does it not transcend death, even now?

"Think for a minute, Harry. I know there's still a lot of Snidgets around your head but I know you can push through them. You're already doing it now."

"What am I doing?"

"You're here. You're _living_." Her hands brushed Harry face tilted his chin up to meet her.

Harry grinned. "I'm on a holiday."

"Your spring cleaning's been due for a while," Luna agreed. "Mother always said that one's own house should be clean before one worries about a neighbour's. Have you been keeping the house clean, Harry? You mustn't forget the new attic up there or cobwebs will grow out of the idle air."

She wagged her finger admonishingly at Harry who, sheepish, accepted her reprimand. He didn't know what it was for but Luna never say anything without a reason and Harry thought he'd find out eventually.

"It's very bright out here," Harry said. "Last few times we were coped up in my office and I know it hadn't been terribly exciting. It's not a bad place, this dimension. Very like the one we had, only without any signs of magic."

Luna looked around and took in the park around them. "It is very bright," she admitted. "I'm not sure I like it."

"You don't? I thought the trees…"

"Oh, I like the trees very much, Harry Potter, but really, it's yourself you should be looking out for. The Snidgets have made away with a lot more than you know and I can hardly be here all the time to look out for you. I _do_ have things to do, you know?"

Luna smiled, to show she wasn't serious and Harry felt a flush of shame. It was _he_ who controlled their meetings and as much as he wished she could call him whenever she wanted, there could only be one Master of Death.

"Now, cheer up Harry and promise me one thing."

"Yes? What is it?"

"Next time, bring the others as well, alright? They need their Snidgets cleared as well, and I just _know_ that you'd do a better job of looking both ways when everyone is here."

"Of course. I can do that."

Luna smiled and it was bittersweet for only a moment before it turned dreamy and all-knowing. In the days after Voldemort's defeat, Harry had counted on the reassurance of Luna's smile. It had told him that he was doing the right thing, that his life still had meaning now that the war had ended and that he could finally, _finally, _live.

Then, when hours had passed and the sun started on its downward path from high noon, Harry said farewell and Luna faded back into the spirit world. At once, everything dimmed as a cloud passed beneath the sun. Fitting, Harry thought. It was as if it wasn't the sun that brought Luna to her full, but the other way around.

Now what to do? Light and Ryuk were on their own merry little adventure and the reapers were doing whatever Panda and Peacock told them to do. For the first time in a long while, no one depended on him. He was free to do what he chooses. A vacation, he thought. What do people do on vacations?

Harry's stomach he grinned. He and Luna had talked for so long that lunchtime had snuck up on him. Those noodles he had before had been pretty good, but there had also been a nice little sandwich shop in the square as well. Harry nodded, plan set and made.

The wards he'd placed around the tree came down with a swish of his wand and Harry tucked the ring back beneath his shirt.

"Point me. Noodle place."

Harry snorted when it worked and took note of the direction he'd go. Noodle place, really? There were perks to having the Elder wand but Harry never really thought _this_ would be one of them.

_"You'd do a better job of looking both ways."_

Harry paused at the lip of the pavement, thinking on those words and jerked back at the beep of a horn. A car zoomed by, close enough the whip Harry's scarf right into his face and he cursed. Bloody hell. What a crazy driver – in a suburban street nonetheless. He took extra care to look both ways before crossing this time and smiled at Luna's words. She'd saved him again.

* * *

Light stared at the tree, confused. What was he doing here? Ryuk was with him, as always, but Light didn't know why he was at Tongling park. Harry was no place in sight and Light lingered on the possibility that his current lack of memory was the result of another power of the dark haired man.

"Ryuk. What… nevermind."

The shinigami only laughed.

Light shook his head. He'd found the solution to his follower late last night and although he'd meant to push it back in favour of testing Harry's powers, the Master of Death had gone conspicuously missing. No matter. Light had relied on himself up to now and he didn't see why it should change.

He pulled out his mobile. "Shiori, it's Light. Are you up for a date today?"

"Light? Oh sure. I don't have anything planned today. Where were you thinking of going?"

Light smiled and made for home. "There's a new movie showing called _The Chainsaw._ I was going to go see it but I thought it would be too scary to go alone. And Shiori is always very brave."

The girl giggled and Light could just see the blush rise on her face. "If you say so, Light. I'll like to go."

"Alright. Let's meet in an hour?"

"Sure, see you then."

Now, to properly prepare the scene of the crime. The Death Note was still in his room but it would be no matter to retrieve a page or two for his use today.

"Going on a date, Light?" Ryuk chuckled from over his shoulder. "I wouldn't have thought you still had time for a girl."

Light smiled and swept a hand through his hair. "Didn't you read what I planned out last night?"

"Nope. If I looked it would be boring."

"Then you'll just have to watch."

Light opened the door to his house and climbed up to his room. The slip of paper was still held up by his door and… no. The handle was just out of alignment and the pencil lead he'd placed on the hinge was broken.

Someone had been in his room and it wasn't his mother or Sayu.

"So what are you doing back here? Getting changed for the big date? Planning on bring lots of little Kira's into the world to take up the mantle?"

Light didn't have time for Ryuk's games. This was L's work, he was sure of it. Was his father in on it too? Light couldn't say… knowing his father, the thought that one of his family could be Kira would be nigh on unbearable, but the man was honourable in his own way. The law would have precedence.

"Hey Light, do you have any more apples? I could do with a couple just about now. Or maybe a dozen. Yeah, a dozen apples would be great. Hey Light? Light?"

Damnit. Light couldn't risk staying in the house. The scrap of the Death Note he'd tried to kill Harry with will have to do. He rummaged around his closet for a moment and picked up a jacket. If there were any watchers, it would serve as an excuse for his return.

Ryuk spun up from the ground and twisted until he was upside down, begging for attention. Light walked straight through the Shinigami and opened the door.

"Oy, Light. What's the matter with you? Come on, I checked and there's no one else home."

With the Death Note was trapped in his desk, Light was faced with the possibility that Kira would cease delivering his judgement. It would be disastrous if the deaths stopped just as observation landed on Light Yagami. His hand reached around the scrap still in his pocket. It would have to do for more than his follower.

"What was up back there? Can never tell if you're ignoring me for a reason or just because you're stuck up."

They were half way down the street and Light glanced furtively to each side. To his knowledge, there was no invention that would allow L to spy on him in the open.

"The house has been compromised," Light said, careful to keep quiet. "We could be watched."

"Watched, eh? So now you're going to be doing the killing outside?"

Sometimes Ryuk's stupidity made Light wonder how the shinigami even survived so long. Light ignored his makeshift companion and made plans for his _date_. He had taken note of just the man. Accused of murdering his girlfriend with a chainsaw years ago but never proven guilty, Takio Shuiguma would make for the perfect distraction. And then, perhaps, he could be rid of one pair of eyes and send a message L's way. He was _not_ one to be messed with.

"Ryuk. I have a job for you – it's more of a way you can help yourself. When we get back tonight you are going to find every little camera and microphone installed in my room and you are going to find a blind spot."

"And why would I do that?"

Light turned around. "I thought you liked your apples. You'll want to have some in the house, won't you?"

* * *

The screens around L were covered by video feeds from the sixty four cameras that gave him complete coverage view of the Yagami household. The majority of them were centred in the prime suspect's room.

"Yagami isn't going to like this," Watari commented.

"He doesn't have to know," said L.

The older man sighed. "Are you sure you want to risk alienating the police chief like this? I don't think we'll survive the backlash if this gets out. There's enough discontent as it is and at this point in time we need all the manpower available to us."

L followed Light as he pulled out a jacket from his wardrobe. Nothing suspicious, not yet, but L was patient and in this world there didn't exist a criminal who was perfect all of the time. The chance was small that Light was Kira, and smaller still that L could be able to catch him in his deed, but if he did…

"Light Yagami has roused my suspicions far too much for me to consider his father's refusal. I had planned to meet and then discuss this plan with them in person, but the suspect has forced my hand."

"I take it the meeting still stands? They have been rather adamant for a show of trust."

L picked up a phone and handed it to Watari.

"Yes. Arrange for a room in the Quartz Plexus. No, book out the whole hotel floor for tomorrow and I will meet with these men at noon. Until then, keep a recording of every feed – I will want to go over them again at a later date."

Then, as far as he was concerned, the matter was closed. Light left the house and L held in his disappointment. His prey escaped, once again.

"Watari, get me a secure line to Penber. I want to be informed minute to minute of Light Yagami's actions."

Light won't be able to evade L for long. With the cameras and the FBI tail, he'd have evidence one way or another about Kira's identity.

He threw up a blood red apple and caught it in the other hand. It smelled of fresh cut grass and cider and when L bit into it, it crunched delightfully, like a wafer or a cracker would. L pondered the flavour before setting it aside. If Kira was to be believed, apples were the domain of Gods of death and L was anything but.

* * *

**AN: Luna! Her words are super important! Actually, lots of important stuff and things are heating up… Longer chap this time cause I wanted to fit a lot in. Figured out Harry's place in all this and gave a tiny little hint in this chappy. **

**Also, I'm going to stop updating so fast and focus on longer chapters. Nothing should change, but I think I like the longer form a bit better with chaps ~4000 words. Hope you enjoyed.**

**Edited: 18.1.2014**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Chainsaw Consequence**

Penber tried to keep his eyes on Light as they moved through the crowded inner city. It wasn't overly difficult despite the swathe of people out for the weekend, and so far, today looked to be the same as any other. Light hasn't done anything suspicious, and the FBI agent was growing weary with following a model student out to dates and classes.

His girlfriend had her arm around his and they were both laughing softly. The picture of young love. There were many other couples around, holding hands and simply enjoying being together. If only he could take some time to properly spend with Naomi… their wedding was bound only a month from now and Penber felt a smile grow on his face at the thought.

He followed them into a cinema, and with a final all clear to L, bought a ticket and settled on the row behind. He couldn't very well communicate through his earpiece in this environment and not anticipating anything more than perhaps a few amorous kisses, Penber settled in for the movie.

The lights dimmed and Penber stretched out his legs, thankful that he was able to get an aisle seat. Light whispered something but Penber couldn't catch it and the title screen flashed with a garish screech. The Chainsaw, huh? Penber rolled his eyes. How many inaccuracies would he be able to catch in this movie?

Then, from behind him, he heard the rev of a chainsaw. Odd that it didn't seem to mesh with the other sound assets… was there a malfunction with the speaker system of the cinema?

Then came the screams and they were all too real. Penber, along with the others in the audience whipped around and the movie cut off, freezing in frame. In the absence of the soundtrack, the whorl of a chainsaw was ever more prominent.

"Nobody move."

The man, middle aged, scraggly with scars all over his considerably muscular arms, held the spinning blade of the chainsaw right up against the upholstery of the seating. The people on that row scrambled to get away. He growled and slashed at the air.

"I said **nobody move!**"

Penber reached down for his gun and unholstered it from his belt. He couldn't use it, though. There were too many people who could get caught in the cross fire. He touched his earpiece and activated it with a tap.

He needed back up, fast. L? No, the police would be quicker.

"Emergency services, how can we help you?"

"I'm FBI, requesting immediate assistance at the cinema in Baling Place. Code XT46BB2. Armed assailant with a chainsaw. Repeat, immediate assistance requested."

Penber kept his eyes trained on the madman as he made step after step to the front of the cinema. Come on, respond. His palm was sweaty where he gripped his gun and his collar seemed too tight around his neck.

There was a pause, then, tenser and with more speed, "XT46BB2, copied. Two police contingents will be dispatched to your location Agent Penber. Estimated arrival time seven minutes from now. Confirmation of single assailant?"

"Confirmed. Unknown firearm status. Assailant shows no hesitation of violence," Penber whispered back.

Then there was no chance to talk as the man drew close, the whirling of the chainsaw was about the only thing he could hear. In front of him, Light and his girlfriend huddled into each other and Penber gave a brief promise to keep them safe.

"Look at you," the man said, voice dripping with derision. "Cowering before me like the worms you are. Kira has nothing on me. None of you have anything on me. I'm the true God of this miserable earth and I am the God who will paint the dreaded canvas red with blood."

A girl screamed from the back rows and the man chuckled.

"Yes, scream. Scream and wail and **beg** for a quick death, you powerless fools."

This man was crazy, of that Penber had no doubt. Crazy as Kira but not even a fraction as smart. He looked to Light and saw the boy's ashen white face and the way he protected his girlfriend from the chainsaw. This wasn't _Kira_. L couldn't have been more wrong.

How long had it been? A minute? Two? The man has passed their row, and was headed straight for the projector screen.

Light whispered frantically to his girlfriend and Penbar leaned forward and managed to catch the end.

"… distract and you make a run. He shouldn't be quick enough to catch you and I'll be able to hold him off."

Penber's eyes widened and he reached forward and grabbed the boy's shoulder. The girl hissed in alarm but didn't scream.

"No, it's too dangerous," Penber said. "Stay seated and the police will come in just a few more minutes."

Light was determined and moved to stand. Penbar pushed him down.

"The false God Kira will fall and in his place I will rise and take this filth ridden country into a new era. I will reign supreme and force all those who oppose me into the scarlet river of their death."

The madman, now up on the railing that separated the seats from the screen, threw his head back into the sky and continued to bellow out his talk. He hadn't noticed. Thank goodness.

"Look, I have to do this," Light hissed. "I need to do this for Shiori and for everyone else in the room. That man's mad. Look, I think I can handle him. My father the chief of police and he's taught me something about taking down criminals. So please, let go and…"

Penbar cursed and dug through his pockets for his ID. He needed to keep everyone under control or there'll _actually_ be rivers of blood running from the madman's weapon. He knew these kinds… talk and posture until the moment someone disobeyed or moved to challenge him. Then would come the brutality.

"Here, look. I'm with the FBI."

Light's eyes widened.

"Let me handle this alright? Now everyone needs to stay in their seats and keep calm until the police arrive. Trust me on this."

Eyes still lingering on is badge, Light nodded. Penber could see he still wasn't convinced, but hopefully the word of a FBI would be enough to keep him from being too radical. Although even Penber couldn't say if the current plan was the best.

"When the world lets loose its fury, I will be there. When the world is disilluminated by lies, I will be there. When the world is cracked and crumbling, when the leaders of the four worlds lie in pools of poison, when fire rains down from the sky, I will be there."

"I guess you're here for that guy, then?" Light asked with a head jerk to the madman at the front.

Penber thought for just a moment before he shook his head. "I can't tell you anything. Confidential."

Light nodded. "Alright. Apologies for asking, I should have known."

"How can you two be talking like nothing's even happening?" Light's girlfriend said. "Light, I'm really scared."

She hugged his arm close to her chest and there were tear tracks on her cheeks. Light leaned down and whispered something in her ear and she nodded.

Crying silently? Penbar's heart went to her, but his mind couldn't help but compare the girl to Naiomi. If his fiancé was here and still an Agent… No, they'd agreed that she wouldn't take part in any more of this dangerous shit.

"It shouldn't be long now, the police will come soon," Penber said. He didn't exactly know who he was talking to but had a feeling it was partly for himself.

* * *

There was certainly something to be said about delicious food. Harry absentmindly patted his full stomach, relishing in the post-lunch haze and resisted the temptation to buy one of those sugar coated fruits from a nearby stall. He didn't give his destination much thought – the elder wand was guide enough that his feet were sure on the ground.

Already, Luna's words were fading into the mist of memory. Harry frowned, but countless repeats of this very situation and the certainty that he'd never, _ever_ forget Luna herself calmed him. He'd made a promise… and she said she thought there was too much light. Harry snorted and thought to Light.

He couldn't help it. Really. Here he was on holiday and he's stalking this kid. When did his lose his… zing? Was that a word people used any more? It was odd, but Light had something going for him, and Harry wasn't just thinking of Ryuk. Light had the same passion, the same fire as those great people on the rise through society.

He wanted to be the God of this world and Harry hadn't yet seen anything that would stop him. L? What had L done, besides that broadcast? Okay, well that was a pretty good move but L was a silly little computer. Harry could fry it with a single spell.

He could fry Light with a single spell as well, but that wasn't the point.

They were at the films? Huh. Maybe he was wrong about Light. If that boy had time to fool around with muggle entertainment, he wouldn't have what it takes to become great. But Harry was on vacation and couldn't really tell anyone else off so he shrugged and went in.

He caught a glimpse of the gleam of metal and the familiar madness of echoing laughter of a man balancing on a railing.

What?

Before he could think, his wand was out and a stupefy was upon his lips.

Then several things happened in quick succession. The chainsaw man flopped over, unconscious, and tipped over the railing to land head first with a sickening crack. The chainsaw fizzed and dropped to the side, the blade sparking.

Several people sitting on the aisle yelped and hands went to pockets and pulled out phones frizzing from a clash of technology and magic. One man stood, hands to his ear, grimacing in pain.

Oh. Curse the muggles and their gadgets. Why would _anyone_ stick something like that in their ears anyway? Harry was _not_ going to feel sorry for the guy.

It set off a chain reaction and soon the whole room was filled with screaming, hysterical people. Oh come on, Harry thought, it's not as if they were in any danger anymore. You'd think they'd be more grateful and whatnot.

Ryuk started chuckling.

Then the sound of sirens filled the air.

That was quick. Harry blinked and shot off a couple calming charms that left people placid and blank-faced. Ahh that was better. He never liked the sound of screaming, unless it was in excitement as he caught the… Snidget? That didn't sound quite right.

With the calming charms dished out, next came the confounding. He would've gone for memory charms but he usually saved those for more extreme mistakes. Like if he had to change into his animagus form or if everyone got to witness Ryuk's grinning face.

Harry swiped at the reaper who had left Light's side in favour of swirling around him, cackling like crazy.

"Shove off Ryuk, I'm just about done confounding everyone. Hey! I'll do the same to Light if you don't stop messing around."

He relented, spinning off and landing in a crouch on the back of a seat. "Don't you want some fanfare for your first kill?" Ryuk asked, teeth gleaming.

"First kill? Whatever. Hey who's that guy anyway?"

Harry nodded to the man in the trenchcoat, leaning on Light and clutching at his ear. There was just the faintest feeling of de ja vu.

Ryuk didn't have a chance to do more than laugh before the door slammed open.

"Police! Get on the ground with your arms up."

No one moved, with all the calming Harry had given, it was surreal to see the dozen uniformed men and women smarm into the cinema, guns out and crouched in a way that was like those badly done crime shows Harry's old cousin used to watch.

It was frustrating that he could remember something so banal but forget other, more important things. At least, Harry thought they were important.

Everyone pointed their weapons at Harry who stared at them in disbelief.

"Hand up. On the floor. Now!" A man at the forefront gestured with his gun.

Harry crossed his arms and hid his wand up his sleeve. "Are you serious? I'm not even-"

"It's not him," came Light's voice from behind.

Harry raised an eyebrow. You see? People should really stop threatening before talking. Harry himself wasn't a fan of non-action, especially seeing as the man he walked in on holding a room full of people hostage was currently head down in the ditch at the front, but people should really stop assuming the worst of him.

Really, just because someone _looked_ suspicious doesn't mean they're the bad guy, and Harry didn't even look out of place.

"Hands out, where I can see them, and go take a seat."

Harry shrugged and complied. He fought down a smile as Ryuk followed him and crouched on a nearby seat.

"There's exciting events happening, Master," the reaper said.

Harry rolled his eyes. Of course there was. You knew things got heated when people pulled their weapons out, wands or otherwise.

"Light's going to enjoy this. Everything is going to chaos and there's no coming back." With a final cackle, Ryuk jumped off and returned to his customary spot behind Light's shoulder.

"Are you the FBI who contacted us?" The police barked.

Light shook his head, still holding up the trenchcoat man. _He_ nodded.

FBI? Wasn't that one of those fancy muggle spy people? Harry didn't usually count himself among the geniuses but he wouldn't say he was an idiot. He nearly felt like one, watching Light bring the FBI man up to the police. What was he doing here? What was Light doing helping him?

"Light?!"

"Hello father. The man you want is over there. I think he tripped and hit his head. You better get him locked up before anything else happens."

Light sounded awfully tired. His face was white and he didn't look much stronger than the FBI agent he was propping up. It was either good acting or Light was shaken more than Harry had expected. For a mass-murderer, Harry would've expected the former, but who knows. Perhaps today was the first dangerous situation that Light's been in and there was nothing like a good near-death experience to expose someone for who they really were.

That was why Harry always thought himself a good judge of character.

Light's father, now _he_ didn't look like he was acting at all. Harry didn't have the luxury to say but he hoped that his own father, if he had lived, would show the same fear as Light's father did for the boy. It was touching, really, but there was something funny about the whole situation that made Harry want to chuckle.

Two officers helped the FBI tend to his ear. The man's hand came away bloody but he didn't seem to be in too much pain. Harry could respect that.

The others split up to circle the room and a half dozen went to investigate the chainsaw men. One crouched down, hesitated, and then holstered his gun. The others did the same. One dug out a thick, grey plastic sheet and laid it over.

Oh so that's what Ryuk was talking about. Man, Harry had seen people fall thirty feet into a sand bank and jump right back onto their brooms. Who'd have thought someone could die as simply as taking a tumble?

"…acting a bit off?"

Harry overheard an officer remark to another. The man was balding, either from an excess of stress or some sort of unfortunate heritage, and the woman he was talking to seemed no older than Light. She was very proper, with a tight bun and pursed lips as she looked around the room.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. A bit too chill, aren't they?"

"Gives me the creeps," the man said. "Like their souls have left their bodies."

"Give it a rest, mate. It's just because of all this Kira speculation, getting to our heads."

Harry spoke up, too amused to hold it in. "I know for sure I still have my soul."

The way the two officers jumped almost made up for being threatened with a gun again. Harry cleared his throat and nodded to the two barrels in his face. In the background, Light's father towered over the shorter FBI agent, gesturing wildly with an air of disbelief.

"Can I get up now," Harry asked.

"What?" She said.

"I was told to sit down and I've sat for a while. Can I get up now?"

Harry wasn't usually purposefully obtuse but just the look of these officer's faces made it worth it.

"I quite fancy another bite of turkey mayonnaise sandwich. There's a delightful little sandwich shop not a few minutes away and I swear they make the best lunches ever."

The female officer rolled her eyes and put away her gun. "You see? These people are absolutely normal. Bit hungry, but normal." She turned to Harry proper. "I'm sorry sir, but you may have to wait until you're debriefed at the station. In fact, I think we're about ready to move right now."

A pair of police wheeled the chainsaw man's body up through the aisle and lifted the stretcher up the last few steps. A thin murmur started up from the audience and they filed out calmly with the guidance of the other officers, still under the effects of Harry's charm.

Light was squirming in the midst of his father's bear hug, and a girl lingered on the sidelines. A girlfriend? She didn't seem too pleased to have taken part as a hostage, although in Harry's experience, the greater the adversity, the greater the bond. Who knows, maybe this was going to be Light's wife one day.

Or, maybe not, as the boy continued to ignore her in favour of discussing the situation with his father.

"Alright, you as well," the female officer said to Harry.

"Do you at least have sandwiches? Or noodles?" Harry asked with a stretch. "Or anything else, really. I haven't had some good food in ages. I'm on a holiday, you see?"

She sighed. "We can probably go buy something for you, but you know you're a weird-ass fucker, don't you?"

Harry laughed. "I didn't know you police types were allowed to swear."

"Alright, no more small talk. Get yourself up and follow the crowd. You can talk to the debrief officers back at the station and _they_ can deal with you."

She ushered Harry to the trail of calmed bystanders and he shrugged and followed them into the back of a police van. As long as he could try out some new food, and as long as Light continued to make things interesting for him, Harry would be happy. It certainly beat sitting in his office all decade matching souls to resurrection station.

Who'd have thought being the Master of Death could get old after a few years? Being mortal was so much more fun.

* * *

"L, you should take a look at this."

The video started playing and L leaned forward from where he perched on his chair. A long string of shell-shocked people trailed out of a building – a cinema, L realised – the same one that Light had entered. L tensed.

Was this why Penber had ceased contact with him? What had happened for there to be an evacuation… another move by Kira?

"Watari, I need the footage from the security cameras in that building."

"The cameras are all short circuited, L. Some footage can still be salvaged. I'll get them to you now. You should also know that our transmission to Raye Penber has been lost."

Unfortunate, but not a big deal. It would be problematic if the agent was killed but L could turn it into more support for action against Kira.

L picked up his phone with two fingers and dialled Soichiro Yagami. He needed some eyes in the scene and although the man himself would be unsuitable, he would be able to dispatch anyone closer –

"Chief Yagami answering." Then, quieter, talking to someone else, "Excuse me for a moment. We will meet back at the station."

L blinked. So he was already there.

"Oh dear," Watari whispered. "I believe this is a bad turn for us, L."

If Penber had not revealed himself to the police, he could still salvage the situation.

"**L.** I don't know what gall you have to be calling now, after you set a **FBI **on my son. This is unacceptable, L. To think you suspect _Light,_ my _son._ Do you suspect me as well, L? Do you think I'm Kira?"

Or not. Watari was right, L thought, face blank as Soichiro Yagami continued to rail against him. Perhaps he should deconstruct the cameras in the Yagami household before their relations deteriorated any further.

"Mister Yagami," L said. "Please understand. I have not signalled out Light as a suspect by himself. I have had FBI track all family members associated with the Japanese Task Force."

Watari sighed and L ran his words though his head again. Ah, perhaps he shouldn't have said that.

There was silence for a few seconds and L caught the background noise of sirens. There was a disconcerting lack of other noise. He would have expected shouting, screaming… whatever it was that would give him a clue about what had happened.

This silence would have to be clue enough.

Then L narrowed his eyes as he spotted a familiar figure – messy black hair, a plain scarf wrapped around his shoulders and wearing a pair of wire frame glasses. The man had appeared again, and that was twice now that he coincided with mysterious circumstances. With a tentative link to Light and then from Light to the Japanese Task Force database, L considered the probability that the as yet unidentified man could be the Kira he was looking for.

"L, I have half a mind to hand in my resignation like all the others. The only reason I will not is out of duty to my family and country and I will not allow someone like you to drive me from justice. But know your actions will not be tolerated. You may have a flawless record with other cases but you are **not** the only one in the world who can catch Kira."

L gnawed on his thumb, unsure of how to pacify the man. Perhaps…

"Mister Yagami, I'm sure that you and many of your associates have expressed displeasure at not knowing my true face. I admit it was a blunder to not inform you and the others in the Japanese Task Force of my intentions and as a show of faith I propose a face to face meeting later today. I only have the utmost respect for officers such as yourself who place their lives on the line in the search for justice."

Watari approved, going by his nod, but the man shared L's apprehension. The past could not be changed, whatever he did, but L was adamant that the future had been salvaged, if only a little, by his words.

"As I said, L, I won't quit. As for the others, and I will be telling the others that their privacy had been impinged by someone we had been willing to trust. What they decide I cannot say."

"You agree to the meeting?"

Yagami sighed. "Yes. Yes, and I will try to convince the others to come as well. For justice, L, nothing else."

The call ended and L put the phone down. Justice. Odd the police Chief couldn't see the justice in L's actions, couldn't see that it was _only_ justice driving L's actions. He shook his head. Sometimes he thought he'd never understand people.

In any case, it was time to prepare. He couldn't afford to let anything else get in his way. If Kira had a hand in the events of this day, L would find every scrap of information and use it to put the murderer down for good.

* * *

**AN: Actually didn't get to a few scenes planned out for the chapter. Pretty pleased with it so far… hope you enjoyed as well. Oh, and seriously, I can't tell you all how much a review does to get me bolstered. I won't be one of those people who asks for 10 reviews before the next chapter, but I'd really appreciate even a "good job" or even a "this sucked." See you all next time.**

**Edited: 18.1.2014  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"So where was it that your sandwiches are?" Harry tailed after a nondescript middle aged police officer, hands in pockets and looking about himself as if a tourist.

Well, he'd never really made a habit of frequenting muggle law enforcement buildings but it was interesting seeing how there was the same coffee stations at the front desk. No paper planes, though, although there was the same atmosphere of action.

The officer didn't even glance back, and Harry rolled his eyes. What a bother, this whole debriefing thing.

"You're in here." The man said and showed Harry to a room to the side where another officer waited. There was already someone being interrogated – still under the effects of his calming charm, apparently. Or perhaps the interrogator was just great at his job.

It was over in a minute, and Harry shared a glance with the other person as they exited. Then Harry was in, being welcomed by the jolliest officer he'd ever seen. You'd think the guy actually enjoyed his job.

"Hello, sir. Just a bit of formalities, I'd afraid. A few minutes and then you should be able to be on your way."

Harry sat at the indicated chair. "That's all well and good," he said, "but I was promised sandwiches and." Harry glanced around the room in a faux gesture. "There's none to be seen here."

The man blinked. "Sandwiches? I'm sorry, Sir but we don't exactly have sandwiches at the station. I'm sure that someone could run out and get something for you if you're very hungry."

Harry sighed and waved the suggestion away. Now that they were volunteering, he wasn't hungry anymore. "Forget it. You said this wasn't going to take long anyway. Just go ahead."

"Alright, in that case, I'll need you basic details. An id card, or a drivers licence will do."

The man folded his hands as if it was a perfectly reasonable request and Harry found himself caught. An ID card? Oh, right. Probably should have gotten some documents written up to explain his presence. Well, too late now.

Harry spread his hands out. "Sorry, officer. Don't have either of those things with me. I can give you my name if you want." He grinned, like he had told a joke. Who'd have thought that the name _Harry Potter_ would be so funny?

"A name?" The officer looked at Harry dubiously. "Fine, name, address, contact number. Although I do have to advise you to carry some sort of identification on your body from now on. If you were to have some sort of accident, we need to know who you are."

Harry snorted, and tried to bite back his laughter. He didn't quite succeed. To think the Master of Death would need something of the sort. The officer stared, dumbstruck at Harry's chortling. Harry thought the man's expression was even funnier but a grumble from his stomach reminded him that he really wanted to get this whole thing over with.

With the help of his Occlumency, Harry was able to cut down his laughter to a few chaotic giggles and motioned for the man to continue.

"Are you quite alright? It's not unusual for people to experience some sort of post traumatic stress disorder after being held hostage. There are services available to hel-"

"Oh, no. No, I'm quite alright, thank you," Harry said. "It's just something you said that I thought was funny."

"Yes, well. Perhaps we should get on with it. I'll give you some brochures of psychiatric help you have available to you anyway, and you can do with the information whatever you like… Now. Where was I? Who are you? Where am I anyway?"

Harry winced. Perhaps his confounding charm had been a little overly strong. He tucked his wand back up his sleeve under the table and gave the man a disarming grin. The corner of the room began to frizz and a thin, dark smoke came from what Harry realised to be a camera.

Oh well, what's done is done.

"We've just established that I know nothing of the incident and that I could show myself the way out. Now, on another note, do you know any good sandwich places around here? I'm not picky, but I prefer if they had a little variety. None of that ham and cheese nonsense. I want something daring, something bursting with flavour."

Harry stood, not giving the confounded officer any time to response. The man gaped up at him and Harry grinned.

"I'll show myself the way out shall I? Nice talking to you."

With a swish of his scarf, Harry opened the door, walked through, and then closed it. As an afterthought, he gave the officer inside the room a cheeky wave. And then he blew the man a kiss.

Oh Merlin, Prong's influence was peaking its head again. Harry didn't know _how _he managed to hold out on pranks in his years at Hogwarts when messing with people was so much fun. But then again, he suppose it was trouble that kept him company, and not the innocent frivolity of childhood pranks.

That only meant he had time enough to make up for his teen age days, especially now that he was on holidays. He was nearly out when Light pulled him aside.

"Harry. We need to talk."

"Really?" Harry said. "Do we really _need_ to talk? I can understand needing to breathe, or needing to sleep or needing to eat delicious sandwiches, and right now, I need to go get some sandwiches in myself."

Uncaring of Light's irritation, Harry pulled his arm from his grip and continued on the way out. He was already thing of which choice he'd get. Not turkey – he'd had turkey already today. Not ham either, unless they had some real snazzy additional. Perhaps there would be something exotic, like alligator or penguin.

Harry had never had penguin before… they weren't extinct were they? Did they even have penguins in this dimension?

Light, Harry realised, had kept in step. "I really do have to talk." Light looked left and right and although there were lots of witnesses released from being questioned, none seemed focused on anything other than themselves.

"Hey, Light," Harry said. "Do you know if there's any penguins in this world?"

"What?" The look on Light's face almost set Harry off again. Occlumency, Occlumency. Focus.

"No, I mean, of course there's penguins. But that's not… Ah, nevermind. Harry. Listen. The house is bugged. Cameras, most likely microphones. You have to be careful if you ever go in."

Harry was still reeling with the knowledge that the possibility of a penguin sandwich was renewed. Then the rest of Light's works sank in.

"Oh yes, that's right. I slept in your house last night, but it's a little awkward, don't you think? I don't reckon I'll return, although if your mother continues to make such delicious breakfasts, I might just steal her for myself."

There was silence for a few seconds and Harry glimpsed the good old sandwich stall up ahead. If they didn't have penguin, he'd settle for alligator. Did they have alligators in this world?

"I'll assume that was a joke. Actually, you need to take the cameras out for me."

Harry whirled around, irritated at the distraction when his food was in sight. "I thought we went over this already," he said. "What I _need_ is a glorious penguin sandwich, not to help you navigate around whatever L's doing to your life. Look. You chose to use the Death Note. You chose to get international attention instead of picking off the Death Eat- the criminals one by one. I'm on holiday, I tell you and I'm going to get a bloody sandwich if it's the last thing I do."

With a huff, Harry stalked over to the stall, scanned over the menu, growing ever frustrated at the lack of penguin. No alligator either.

"A penguin sandwich?" Light murmured. "This can't be serious."

Harry was pretty sure the boy hadn't meant him to hear. Argh, what was this rubbish? Pork cranberry? Egg and mayonnaise? Tomato and cheese? Who even liked tomato?

"What do you want?" The owner said. He wiped his hands on his apron, impatient.

Harry opened his mouth, intending to give the man a lecture on the lack of interesting sandwich fillings.

"Two corned beef, please," Light said instead.

And then Harry remembered he actually liked corned beef. Huh. Who'd have thought. It sounded so… boring, so dry, but it seemed to have some significance in his past life. Did Luna use to make them for him? Harry knew he'd forgotten a lot, but he was _pretty _sure his wife wasn't much of a cook.

Harry shrugged and accepted the sandwich. It was piping hot and smelled of family. Merlin he really needed to get his head back on track… all these memories and nothing to show for it. Light paid, which was just as good since Harry had his hands full with his food and didn't have anything to spare to summon some money.

"Good choice," Harry conceded, and then took a bite. Ahh that hit the spot.

Light raised an eyebrow. "You sure you don't want _penguin?_"

Harry shook his head. "Nah. And I'll ignore that and continue to say that sure, I'll do you a favour. Not because I _need_ to do it, see, but that I want to. And that you were lucky in choosing such a good sandwich. I'll do one better than taking out the cameras. I'll make it so you can do whatever you want in your house and not be suspicious at all."

Light's eyes widened and Harry could just see the cogs turn in his head. That sure was some cunning, Harry thought, and remembered a time when cunning was associated with evil. Not for a long time, though… was it not Harry himself who suggested the alternative? And Harry was pretty sure that he himself was not evil. Perhaps not good, either, but what can you do?

"I bet you just want to test me out as you tested out the Death Note, don't you?" Harry said with a grin.

Light didn't even look slightly repentant. Even without Legilimency, Harry thought he could see right through the boy. No, not straight through, but it was like they connected. Which was odd, since Harry never thought he'd get along with a mass murderer so well. Then again, there was nothing quite like centuries of distant immortality to change someone.

"If you think I'm going to let you take me out for a spin like some second rate broomstick, you'll be in for disappointment, Light."

There was no need to cut his entertainment short after all, and seeing the boy struggle against his opponent was more fun that he had in decades. Light pursed his lips. The issue wasn't over, but Harry wouldn't have had it any other way.

* * *

Penber sat stiffly with people he didn't know. The Japanese Task Force. Dedicated men, all worthy of being called heroes, risking death to catch a lunatic with a misaligned concept of justice and a god complex. Strangers nonetheless.

L sat before them. If Penbar was to list off ten words that he thought described the legendary detective… if he were to list even a hundred, none would fit the figure who squatted, in his baggy jeans and white shirt, with the black circles so deep under his eyes they could well been bruises. This wasn't _L_.

But at the same time, it fit. It fit so clearly Penber wondered why he hadn't seen it before.

"I've called you here, because you have all proven to be men worthy of trust. Here is my trust."

It was odd, listening to L without the synthetised voice. At once, he was incredibly mortal but it was as if his very mortality made his achievements more impressive. To think that L was made of flesh and blood, just like Penber, but years younger. Infinitely more accomplished. It was humbling and frightening at the same time… so easily could someone be killed these days that it was confronting, almost, to see L in the flesh.

"L. Do not pretend we share your same ideals of trust. Not when you've gone behind our backs to spy on our wives and children."

There were some murmurs of assent from the other men, although some frowned disapprovingly.

That was another thing. It had been _tense_ to say the least, of sitting next to Light's father. The man was intimidating in his stature, and that's net even mentioning he probably held Penber at fault for the investigation of his son.

"I have already expressed my regret at your displeasure. I am aware that others may believe my actions rash in the face of the relatively scarce evidence. In the future, I will endeavour to convey the entirety of my thought process if circumstances allow."

Penber didn't know how to take that… _un_apology. They were the words of one used to praise and recognition. Of one used to _winning_ at everything they tried.

Chief Yagami's hands clenched and Penber shifted, uncomfortable in his choice of seating. There were some who didn't take kindly to L's words but they stayed silent. Penber could only hope that it was due to their mutual drive to find Kira and not ineloquent rage.

"From now on, all of you will be using fake names, your identity will be hidden from the media, and you will operate a ghost operation, with the real headquarters rotation around a series of secure hotels. I won't have to stress the importance of pure confidentiality. If you value your lives, not a word will escape these rooms."

L passed around a set of counterfeit badges and Penber took his while chewing at the inside of his lips. He'd shown his real badge to a suspect already and Penber was still unsure if that was the correct thing to do. It had been extenuating circumstances, sure, but he was an _agent_. And as an agent, he was expected to overcome adversity and not give clues to the other side.

"Hey, cool! This is going to be great, it's like we're spies and undercover agents and what not."

Matsuda. Penber could only see a child in Matsuda, gone over his head in this whole business, but still devoutly dedicated to the pursuit of justice. L had said that Kira could be in their midst. If Penber was pressed, he'd say Matsuda would come the closest, although the young man's intelligence was perhaps not up to par with the mass murderer.

But who knows what could be an act.

"Sit down, Matsuda. This isn't a game," Aizawa said.

Penber studied his new false identity. The photograph was still the same, of course. New name, though. Thomas Griffs. It rolled off the tongue alright, but was a little too foreign. Penber thought it would draw attention more than keep him inconspicuous, but who was he to question L.

"Alright L, I've been holding it in up till now. Are you satisfied now? You must have concluded that Light is innocent in all this."

L didn't blink. It was eerie, how still he could be, sitting in his peculiar fashion. A complete opposite to Soichiro Yagami, although Penber found himself empathising with Light's father. It would've been difficult for any father to find out his son is a suspect, and Soichiro was the chief of the National Police Agency.

"I cannot conclude that, Chief Yagami. Unfortunately, Light still has a seven percent chance of being Kira."

Soichiro stood, tense all over. Watari, who so far had stood still behind L's chair shifted. One hand twitched in the direction of his belt. The police chief continued on, uncaring.

"Why the hell is he still a suspect? You had him tailed and all he did was go to school and then come home and revise. If he was Kira the chainsaw killer would have been killed of a heart attack, especially with the way he tried to talk over Kira's god-ship."

L nodded and reached down for a cream encrusted truffle. "Let us analyse the chainsaw killer's death for a moment, if you please. How likely is it that the man well known for the same sort of grandiosity as Kira, shows up at the same location as one of our prime suspects, sprouting ill about the very same mass murderer we've gathered against, trips, and falls down dead? Although Kira's known to kill with a heart attack, I can as easily shoot someone with a bullet or feed them anaesthetics enough to induce vestibular dysfunction and an ill-timed wobble on a railing."

The detective paused to let it all sink in.

"Doesn't it seem convenient," he continued, "that in this single incident Light would find himself cleared of suspicion? It tastes of orchestration."

He plopped the chocolate in his mouth and the crunch of his bite drove his point into the ground.

Matsuda gasped. "But… you're saying that-"

Penber could share Matsuda's disbelief. Wasn't it enough that Kira could kill with a name and a face?

"Yes," L said around his mouthful. "Kira can control the actions of his victims before they die."

What was this world coming to where such power rested on the head of one? It was almost like Kira's proclamations of Godhood were grounded in truth.

"That's still not to say that Light's the one doing it!"

"Chief, please. I don't agree with L's actions either, but they do make a deal of sense seeing as he couldn't be sure if any of us were Kira too." The quiet one, Moghi, spoke up in a moment of tense silence. That one would make for a great peacekeeper, with the way he diffused the situation with reason.

Soichiro took a few deep breaths, and with a concerted effort at relaxing his shoulders, sat.

"It's no matter," L said, another truffle in his hand. "I value those with the passion to stand for what's right. Now, I have arranged you all packets of information regarding the Kira case. Please make sure to read them carefully. It contains everything that we know about Kira. From them…"

L picked up another truffle and Matsuda made a motion that suggested he wanted to take a treat for himself before changing his mind. The young man sat back with a faint blush. Penber eyed the truffles himself. How much had those chocolates cost? They weren't cheap, that's for sure, and Penber didn't want to judge but it was hard not to condemn the use of money for such luxuries when they could be put to better use finding and catching Kira.

"From them," L continued, "I can only conclude that Kira's powers are of supernatural origin."

Soichiro spoke up. "L. It's not like the thought never crossed our minds before either. But supernatural? If that's true, how can we even fight against it?"

"There is the chance that he is in possession of hyper advanced technology, but for it to show itself in _this_ battlefield and for me not to have heard anything hinting to it beforehand… No. There is something more going on here. However, Kira's powers may be supernatural but the mind behind them is entirely human."

"How do you know? Why couldn't Kira be a real God, like he says?" Murmurs proceeded Matsuda's question and the young man looked away in embarrassment.

"Kira doesn't like to lose," Penber said. Every pair of eyes turned on him and the room was suddenly much stuffier. "It would only make sense if he was a human and prone to the fear of failure. Also, a drive to succeed."

"Good reasoning, agent Griffs," L said.

It took a moment before Penber remembered his new alias. He nodded and accepted the grudging approving look from even Chief Yagami.

"Although your conclusion would not be as conclusive as if you had the other key piece of information."

L stood and he was surprisingly tall. Penber didn't notice it before, with the way the detective was sitting, but L could easily have half a head of height over him. If he straightened his back from the perpetual hunch he sported, L would get even taller.

Surprising the man could squish himself into such a small ball like that. Penber shook his head and tried to get focused on more important matters.

"What information?" Penber asked.

"Before I say anything," L said, pacing, "Chief Yagami, I assume you are familiar with this man?"

A picture popped up on the screen behind L and Penber took in the spectacled green eyes and the mop of hair. British, if he wasn't wrong, although in this day and age people came from all over the world. He himself was Japanese-American with a background that was truly global.

If Penber's memory served him right, he had been at the cinema, although it was difficult pinning down the man's exact location. Mustn't have been very important then, but why was L asking after the green eyed man?

"That's Harry," Soichiro said. "One of Light's friends from school."

"No it's not."

"Excuse me?" Sochiro, thankfully, was not as irritated as he had been at the beginning of the meeting. The police chief seemed more intrigued than anything and Penber took that as a sign of relations improving within their group.

Although… Penber frowned. _It?_ What was L getting at?

"Please watch carefully. This is all of the footage we have been able to salvage."

The screen unpaused and _Harry_ walked across the plush carpet floor of the cinema reception and into the theatre where Penber and Light had sat. The man must have known beforehand where to go because he neither wavered nor asked for directions.

An innocent get together between school friends, or, as L suggested, something more?

Harry hesitated in the doorway and, lightning quick, reached for something in his pocket. Penber shivered. He had seen the move many times before, and in his experience, it had always been a weapon that came out.

The video descended into static but not before a flash of red filled the screen. L paused it there.

"Although the audio is not of the highest quality, sounds of alarm had been coming from the theatre, as would be expected. However, the police, even those first on the scene, reported an eerie calm from the civilians recovered. Cardiovascular shock, although with no physiological manifestations."

L paced the length of the room, thumb pressed to his lips. This was a rare moment, Penber realised. Never before had any been witness to the great detective's thought process. A great deal of trust went into the gesture, greater perhaps, than any other in the room would appreciate.

"Originally, I suspected some sort of mass hypnosis but the recovery of the video now leads me to believe otherwise. The loss of footage coincides with this so called Harry's appearance and if we extrapolate our earlier conclusions of supernatural interference…"

A chair clattered to the ground and every eye turned to Hideki Ide, who had stood, eyes sharp and trained squarely on L.

"This is ridiculous," Ide said. "To think I'd pegged you down as a hero and here you are, quoting magic and vodo to explain a mystery that you don't have the information to solve. I'm beginning to doubt whether you're the real L at all."

Penber could understand the man's annoyance, but he wasn't so ready to discount the existence of powers beyond human understanding just yet. However, Ide raised a good point.

"We can't explain everything away by using the _supernatural_ as a reason," Penber said, trying and failing to appease everybody. "It would give us no clues and I for one would rather there be some concrete foe to stand against, and not this… whatever this is."

L sighed, stepped back onto his chair and returned to his ball. He rolled a truffle between his fingers and made it disappear with a slight of hand.

"Supernatural, what an odd word it is. To suggest that anything in this world would be free of its limitations… There's pattern in all that we do, and it's always been my job to find those patterns and turn them to our own use. And if this really is Kira we're looking at, we're at more of an advantage than we'd ever had."

The detective opened his other hand to reveal the truffle. It was a fitting show, and one that left the members of the Japanese Task Force in thoughtful silence. Then the atmosphere broke as L threw the truffle up into the air and caught it with his mouth.

"So what should we do about Harry?" Sochiro asked once L had finished eating. "I can't believe I took his words at face value… the boy slept in my house last night."

L smiled although it looked a lot like the grin one might wear when they'd uncovered the final clue to uprooting an underground drug cartel. "Exactly."

"Exactly?"

"Keep him close. We'll see who comes out on top after a few more days. Invite him over again. Be friendly. Keep an eye on him until the patterns reveal themselves. Whether he is Kira or some other new player in this game, we'll dig out every crevice, every little secret hidden behind those glasses and justice will prevail."

However passionate L's words were, Penber couldn't shake the feel that everything was just a game to the detective. Kira wants to win, but so did L. One was willing to kill, the other was willing to… do what? Use FBI to spy on minors? Both spouting justice, both playing their little games while the pieces on the board danced under their fingertips. For now, Penber would stay on the side of the law.

* * *

**AN: Well, right. I promise Harry's going to get over his obsession with sandwiches… I have no excuse. Hopefully everything was interesting enough with the meeting. Really enjoyed writing that.**

**Many thanks for all the reviews from last chapter. It _does_ help and I was super happy to see what so many people thought of the story. **

**Edited: 18.1.2014**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"One more time, you are _sure_ L would not see me writing in the Death Note? Your _spell_ would work even if L watched the video from the other side of the globe?"

Light wasn't sure if he believed Harry, but the man seemed so blasé about the whole thing. It irked, somewhat, seeing such power in the hands of someone who was unwilling to use it. Light could already think of a dozen uses for such an ability, and he was beginning to suspect that Harry had many more up his sleeve.

"Yes. You trusted me before on the whole privacy charm business but now that there's muggle cameras involved I'm useless? Don't worry, as soon as you touch that drawer, all L and whoever else sees the recording will see you being a good little model student, writing in an absolutely innocent notebook."

Light bit the inside of his cheek before he straightened himself out.

"Besides," Harry continued, "you've been doing your little tests and so far there's been no hint that L has even noticed. That trick with getting the Death Note out of the drawer? It was a good think you'd told be beforehand or everything might've gone up in a blazing ball of glory. Good stress relief, but probably not optimal plan-wise."

With an uncharacteristic grimace, Light turned his back and opened the door to his house. This would be the real test. Even with all of Harry's reassurances there was nothing like writing in the Death Note all the while _knowing_ the cameras were still there. Still recording. Still spying on him for L.

"Have you given any thought to your living arrangements?" Light asked.

Harry shrugged. The man could be so frustrating sometimes. Where Light would have planned everything out to the second, with plans behind those plans, Harry seemed to take an uncaring approach to everything he did. If not for the power he possessed, the man would be dreadfully average.

"Not really. I suppose I could just make something for myself… squeeze it in some alley or something. It'll be a bit of tricky spellwork but that's never stopped me in the past."

Light bit his lip to stop from responding. Instead, he put on a smile and laid out two cups of tea. He'd seen how Harry had taken his with milk and two sugars. If a bit of arse kissing was necessary to get the Master of Death on his side, then Light would be happy to do so. For a little while, at least.

"My offer still stands," Light said. "Now that you've taken care of the cameras, there's no problem with you staying here."

With a hum, Harry picked up his tea and took a sip. "Don't think I'm a fool, Light. I've already done you one favour, and a pretty substantial one at that. If you think I'm going to stay here and let you keep your eyes on me and do Merlin knows what else, then you've got something else coming."

Light took the time to swirl his own cup. The taste was bitter. "I apologise. You're right."

"Ha! That must have been tough to say, assuming you meant it."

"No," Light said. "I have a habit of admitting when I am wrong, rare as it is. Anything else would be discourteous. And I'll thank you again for that favour and since you're on a _holiday, _perhaps I can show you around? Before you jump to accuse me again, I've been told I am a very good guide."

Harry glanced around him then whipped out his wand. Light stiffened but whatever spell the man cast made their empty cups glow a shimmering white and then disappeared. Was that… was that really a cleaning spell? Light couldn't fathom the need for anything so mundane as that.

"I'll take you up on that offer," Harry said, "as long as you don't forget who I am."

They shook on it, each matching the other's grin and Light had just started to wind down and prepare his next course of action against L when Harry spoke again.

"What was that park again?"

A shiver ran down Light's spine. "What park?" He asked. There was a chance that Harry didn't know about his attempt to kill him and that the question was as innocent as it sounded.

"Oh that's right, you probably don't remember."

What had the man done to him? Memories? Now Harry could affect memories? Light smiled a thin smile. "Why don't you enlighten me."

Harry tucked his hands behind his head and kicked back on the bench they sat on. His sandwich wrapper lay beside him and the smell of corned beef still drifted in the air. After nearly a week, the man still hadn't gotten tired of the same old filling.

"You took me to a park. Ten pin, or something like that. I had to put up a ward so no one would see me doing magic and… looking at trees."

Tongling park. Light didn't remember showing Harry to that place. And the mention of trees. Was the man mocking him? Did Harry know of what he'd written in the Death Note? With his powers, Light couldn't be sure of anything.

His breathing hitched, although a side glance at Harry showed the same relaxed, almost childish figure beside him.

"You're right. I don't remember. What were you doing at the park?"

On the off chance that Harry _wasn't_ acting, there was the possibility of something here.

"I had to air out my thoughts, figure out what I was going to do. What I wanted to do." Harry opened his eyes and any remnant of childishness Light though he had seen disappeared. "I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this. Don't you have some evil to abolish?"

"I was worried," Light lied. "That area's been known for its traffic accidents, and although I probably made sure to guide you on the way there, it would've been a different circumstance if you left by yourself."

Light banked on the man's sheer ignorance all aspects of technology. If Harry couldn't even operate a microwave, there was a good chance he wouldn't know the ins and outs of road safety.

"I didn't know you cared, Light. But no." A slow smile. "I looked both ways."

Perhaps Light was wrong, then. Would this be a sheer coincidence? The park, the tree, the airing of thoughts. They all corresponded to his directions although not in the way Light had intended. Perhaps, as the Master of Death, Harry would be affected by everything else, just not the death itself. There was potential for further experimentation.

Time to be bold. "Can you even die?"

Harry hummed, and stared off into the clouds. "Wouldn't you like to know? But I suppose there's no harm in telling. Who knows when I'll get… I don't know, shot in the face or something."

Light sucked in a sharp breath. So it was true.

"Well," Harry said, stretching and standing up. "That's enough questions for today, I think. I'm on holiday and I've always had a policy of not accepting interviews while I'm on holidays. At least I think I had that policy."

There were many mysteries in the world, and Light was beginning to resign himself to the fact that Harry would remain one of them. The man didn't even seem to know himself.

"Alright, so lead the way. You said you'd show me around and I'm going to sit back, relax, and fill my head with all the sights of your lovely world."

Light bit back a long suffering sigh. Ever since he'd managed to convince Harry to stay in his home, the man had cited his holiday for an excuse to go sightseeing. Understandable, but it was a drain, especially as he had to maintain his grades as well as continue in his dance with L.

Although perhaps there was a solution for his current dilemma. Light adjusted the wristband of his watch and considered again the way Harry had brushed aside the possibility of getting shot.

"I'm going to the restroom," Light said. "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere."

Then to the restroom he went, went to reach for the pen cartridge he'd sewn into the hem of his shirt. In a cubicle, he unwound the face of his watch and took out the folded piece of Death Note. This should work, but in the case that it didn't, Light needed to make it seem like an accident.

_Harry Potter dies at 7.15pm choking on food at a restaurant after discussing his abilities in private with a companion._

That might be enough, but knowing L, the detective would find any death near him to be suspicious. So far he'd managed to use the quantity of heart attacks to hide his real trail. The ability to sentence death in more imaginative ways was something he'd keep in reserve, to use on the key pieces on the board.

If Harry was to be believed – and there was no reason a Master of Death would be caught by his own contraption – then there would be no risk in doing this. Light had to satisfy his curiosity. If the Note could really affect Harry like he suspected… As haphazard as the connection was, it would be a powerful tool.

The restaurant they ended up going to was one of the Yagami family's favourates, and by an odd touch of fate, Sayu had heard him and Harry planning the dinner and demanded the whole family join them. Light, in the face of both his sister and his mother's enthusiasm, couldn't do anything to allay it, and Harry – Harry was overly delighted at the company. The man had taken strongly to his family. Light couldn't say it was worryingly strong, but anything more and his plans may be unnecessarily complicated.

So they went, and while Light kept an eye on his watch the whole time, 7.15pm came and went with little fanfare. He wasn't dissuaded by this though. His last attempt to kill Harry hadn't followed the time he wrote either. They finished their dinner quite amicably, although his father had to leave early to attend to his work, and Light made sure to pull Harry aside.

"Let's meet at Tongling park tomorrow morning. I can show you a breakfast place and then we can take the train to city junction. I said I'd be your guide and I don't intend to go back on my word."

Harry smirked and crossed his arms in front of him. "You have so much free time? Or have you tired of your… hobby?"

The truth – that Light wanted Harry to be alone when the effects of the Death Note took hold, was not mentioned at all. He had a feeling that the man wouldn't take kindly to his power being used against him like that and however pleasant and unthreatening Harry had been at dinner, Light knew the truth of the matter. He'd have to step lightly.

* * *

Harry had to admit to himself – he should have taken up Light's offer. Sure, he _could_ have made himself a comfortable little dwelling, covered in muggle repelling charms and furnished with the luxuries he'd grown accustomed to as Master of Death. He _could_ have, but life as a mortal was tiring, and it was a tired Harry that resigned himself to spelling up a hammock and spending the night swinging between trees.

And all things considered, it wasn't awful. A little damp and his neck was sore after being stuck sideways but it wasn't awful. Besides, that's what people did on holidays, wasn't it? Sleeping in hammocks.

When the sounds of traffic woke him, Harry had needed a disproportionately long time to understand why he was rocking back and forth, and then several minutes more to remember that no, he hadn't been somehow knocked unconscious, he'd been sleeping. Still in his clothes from yesterday, but that was no matter.

With a quick pat down to check his Hallows were still on him, Harry banished his hammock, straightened his glasses and cast a quick confounding charm on the green garbed cleaner taking the garbage out from a nearby bin. The man shouldn't have seen anything, but it was best to be safe.

As he was putting his wand away, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"You're late," Light said, for it was Light who stood behind him, immaculate as always, hair shining in the noon day sun. Ryuk stood behind the boy as always, hands writhing and hopping from foot to foot.

"Oh," Harry said, checking again that the sun was, indeed, high up in the sky. "Must have overslept. Sorry."

Light wasn't impressed, but except for a thinning of his lips in disproval, he hardly showed it. "Well, I suppose breakfast is off the table. The store I was thinking off would be closed by now. Have you had anything to eat?"

Stretching, Harry ignored the young mass murderer for a moment as he worked out the kinks in his neck. It was an odd feeling, the way it strained just so. A little more and…

Crack. Harry sighed.

"Much better. Now, what were you saying?"

Of course, Harry had heard every word that Light said. As much as he liked giving the appearance of being absentminded, it was as much a habit as a strategy, one that he'd got from his dear wife. With the boy already knowing about his magic, Harry had little opportunity to be underestimated.

"There's a festival today, the March of the Hares. I was thinking -"

"Light hasn't been giving me any apples," Ryuk interrupted. He jumped close to Harry and leaned down, eyes crossed and head twisted full around. "It's been awful, Master. With the cameras and everything. No apples. For days."

Harry chuckled. "Here," he said as he conjured up one of the red fruit and tossed it to the shinigami. "Enjoy."

Ryuk didn't even bother catching it with his hands. It went into his mouth, a look of pure pleasure on the shinigami's face, and down his gullet. His body straightened out and

"Thank you Master, thank you so much. Is there…" Ryuk looked behind Harry, lifted his arm, then back and forth along the street. "Is there another?"

With a long suffering sigh, Harry created another apple, and his little death god just stared at him in adoration. Was this what he was reduced to now, nanny to a shinigami? Ryuk gobbled down the second one as quick as the first and Harry sternly refused to give him a third.

It didn't stop Ryuk from pestering him all the way down to the train station, flying over his head and batting at his ears to get his attention. Surrounded as they were by muggles, Harry fought to keep a calm face and ignore the apple-crazed fiend.

He cast a sideways look at Light who was grinning in satisfaction. The boy probably refused Ryuk his apples on purpose, just to allay the prospect of this from happening. Then, when Harry almost tripped as Ryuk subtly moved a storefront sign into his path, he decided that enough was enough.

Without warning, he pulled Light into a corner of the train platform and cast a wide notice-me-not charm.

"Alright, Ryuk," Harry said. "That's enough. I know you like your fun, but don't forget you're only allowed to stay here by me. Now stop this fussing about apples and shove off for the day, alright? Go do whatever it is you want – eat some apples, or annoy someone else, or, here's an idea, actually go back up there and do your job."

The shinigami deflated with every word, until the towering black skinned being hunched down low enough for his head to be squarely at his stomach.

"Yes, Master. I'll go. Sorry for making you mad," Ryuk said in a small voice.

Harry didn't let up, and glowered until Ryuk kicked himself up into flight and disappeared into the distance. Not into the shinigami realm, though – Harry knew that however repentant the mischievous shinigami was, Ryuk wasn't one for _work._

"That was a rapid change," Light remarked. "Are they bound to obey you or do you have that effect on everyone?"

The boy tried to hide it but the gears in his head were blatantly obvious to Harry. "Actually, they're a part of me. Mostly. This world's shinigami are a bit unusual but I can still sense my power in them. Or, rather, in the Death Notes."

"How are they unusual?"

"Well, they've taken to betting on you, haven't they?"

Light's eyes widened and his mouth twitches as if a smile was aborted.

"I can understand that, I really can," Harry continued, "but I'd taken every precaution for my underlings to be wiped clean of _fun_. Even then I get lumped with all the paperwork – is it really so hard for one of them to decide whether someone gets reincarnated into one world or another? You'd think they'd be jumping at the chance."

The voice announcing the oncoming train pulled him from his reverie and Harry reminded himself again that he was on a holiday. No time to think of paperwork now, not with his guide showing him a part of Japan's heritage and culture. What was the festival called again?

The train pulled into station, a thing of streamlined metal, far more alien and unfriendly then his beloved red coated Hogwarts Express. Harry felt a jolt of satisfaction as he recalled the name. The doors opened and out flooded an unimaginable amount of people. So much in fact that Harry wondered if the muggles hadn't somehow reinvented the space expanding charm.

"Come on," Light said as he pulled Harry along.

They managed to be one of the first to get in, but even then the space was cramped. Then, as more and more people squeezed in, nearly non-existent.

"Say, what do hares have to do with anything anyway?" Harry asked, twisting his head around awkwardly to Light. It was awkward because he had to speak _through_ a middle aged suit who had managed to get in between him and the boy.

Light, who stood on the other side, leaned as much as he could in the confined space and stared pointedly at Harry. Then he pulled out some of those ear pieces Harry had seen people walk around in and turned around.

So he was the only one speaking on the train. So what? Harry had half a mind to blow out all the technology on the blasted train – see how Light liked his music then, but he refrained. At the speed at which they were going and with the shortage of trained staff _up there_, he'd only be making matters worse. Then, slightly bemoaning his own lack of entertainment, Harry settled down to wait. This festival better be worth it.

* * *

"It's been a few days now."

"Yes."

"And the cameras aren't giving us any more of an advantage."

L swirled his cup of tea and added another sugar. He didn't want to admit it but Watari was right. All the time, all the sleepless sugary nights spent pouring over the tapes had been a waste. Light hadn't slipped up once, but the boy's almost robotic way of studying was giving L other thoughts.

"Not to mention Chief Yagami's near miss yesterday morning."

The tea was too hot. L added another sugar. There, better. He swivelled around in his chair and steeped his fingers on his knees.

"They are going to the festival March of the Hare," he said. Perhaps he had been going on about this all wrong. If Light or that green eyed man was indeed Kira, then cameras and tails wouldn't prove it. Kira was smart enough somehow to detect the presence of the two millimetre recording devices he'd planted.

And Penber, for all the man was a well-meaning agent, with experience enough to come to his own conclusions on things, Kira was a step ahead. In fact, L was beginning to think that no one but himself could possible delve to the truth of the matter.

"The March of the Hare," L said again. "It is customary, isn't it, for the attendees to be disguised with masks?"

"The… L. You can't possibly be thinking of going there yourself?"

L didn't answer for a long while, but although Watari couldn't know it, his mind was made up. His strategy had been inappropriate. Not wrong – L was never wrong, but inappropriate. He'd adapt, and change and prove more flexible than the fish in his nets. Nothing would slip by this time.

"Remove the cameras from the Yagami household before the Chief finds one. They're much more of a liability than I expected."

Watari sighed, relieved no doubt that they were a step further from angering and alienating the police chief. Again. L finished the sugary bottoms of his tea as the man turned to leave and called out one more time.

"And Watari? Prepare a mask."

* * *

**AN: Um. Sorry about that. I didn't so much lose interest in this as it got the better of me. Too complicated, too many plot elements. I couldn't possibly compare to the original and I was trying too hard to make it the same. So this chap was a bit less plot heavy, but I've tried to stick to my plans. Hopefully still alright. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed in the time that I've been gone! It's a real pleasant surprise that after a few months people are still interested.**

**Anyway, another matter of importance – I've decided to stagger updates, first Let Live and Let Die, and then Bound to the Dutchman, my newer HP x PotC. I'm excited about both of them and I'll try keeping both groups of readers appeased.**

**Many thanks for sticking with me for so long, 31****st****.**


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